[2016-07-12] Firstpost: Bitcoin goes through halving event, value drops by 5%

Bitcoin goes through halving event, value drops by 5 percent

http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis/bitcoin-goes-through-halving-event-value-drops-by-5-percent-324850.html

Digital cryptocurrency Bitcoin has undergone its “halving” event which happens every four years or after every 210,000 blocks of transactions. This event, according to a law in its rulebook, cuts in half the value of the digital payout that the ‘miners’ receive for supporting the network by providing computing resources.

The halving event provides a reward to Bitcoin backers who are basically supplying CPU time and electricity that enables the Bitcoin network to survive. While the markets were prepared for the impact of the event, some miners received less than what they anticipated. The bonus was dropped to 12.5 Bitcoins per processed block from 25, which is directly going to impact the number of miners. According to CoinDesk data, the halving event also resulted in price fall of 5 percent which translates to $627 (Rs 42,096) per Bitcoin, a drop from $660 (Rs 44,305).