Nicolas Économou | Nuphoto | Getty Images
Bitcoin rose slightly to start the week after the network completed its fourth halving on Friday, reducing incentives paid to Bitcoin miners.
The cryptocurrency’s price was last up 1.8% at $65,891.28, according to Coin Metrics. Ether rose 1.5% to $3,198.06.
Shares of public cryptocurrency miners saw a premarket surge Monday, after rebounding to the close Friday ahead of the halving, which took place later in the day. The biggest miners, Digital marathon And Riot platformsgained around 3% and 5% respectively. CleanSpark And Iris energy increased by 3% and 4% respectively.
The Bitcoin halving halves the incentives given to miners and occurs approximately once every four years, as prescribed by the Bitcoin code. It aims to slow the issuance of bitcoins, creating a scarcity effect and allowing the cryptocurrency to retain its digital, gold-like quality.
Many investors expected little Bitcoin price action around the halving itself, as historically it has taken several months to see its impact reflected in the Bitcoin price. JPMorgan, however, said it sees near-term downside risk in bitcoin.
Large publicly traded Bitcoin mining operations are largely positioned to absorb the event. They have been preparing for months by placing large orders for new and more efficient mining equipment, increasing their power capacity, and increasing their hash rates. Hash rates measure the computational efficiency of crypto miners.
Smaller, less efficient operations risk being taken offline, allowing remaining mining companies to take more market share and open up M&A opportunities.
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