Key Points
- Bitcoin’s value dipped below $60,000 due to comments from the Federal Reserve Bank’s Chair, Jerome Powell.
- The anticipated Bitcoin halving event, expected on April 19, will reduce mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
The leading cryptocurrency, Bitcoin (BTC), experienced a drop in value, going below the $60,000 mark as the Bitcoin mining halving event draws near.
Bitcoin’s value hit $59,889 around midday ET on April 17, rebounding to just over $60,300 at 1:05 p.m. ET on the same day. This represents a decrease of $2,423, or 3.9%, in the past 24 hours.
Market Liquidations and Fed Comments
In the perpetual futures market, liquidations reached $15.54 million between midday and 1:00 p.m. ET on April 17. Long liquidations were about $8.4 million and short liquidations totaled $6.02 million. According to the crypto data tracker CoinGlass, 24-hour liquidations hit $214.28 million across 67,301 traders.
The decline in Bitcoin’s price began after comments from the Fed chair that interest rates likely won’t decrease for the foreseeable future. Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank, stated during a Washington forum that the U.S. central bank probably will not reach its 2% inflation goal anytime soon.
Bitcoin Halving
The Bitcoin halving event, expected on April 19, will reduce mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This will be the fourth Bitcoin halving since the network’s inception in 2009, serving as a method to control the token’s supply and maintain scarcity. This event happens every 210,000 blocks, which are sequential units of data holding transaction history in a blockchain network. As of 1:34 p.m. ET on April 17, the next Bitcoin halving is 336 blocks away, with the last halving occurring on May 11, 2020.