Cheddar Correspondent Remy Blaire discusses Bitcoin's Q1 surge and upcoming halving. Will the momentum continue? Learn about the impact on prices and miners.

Bitcoin's Q1 Surge and What's Next with Correspondent Remy Blaire

We talk a lot about Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin on Shatter and we've seen it get a lot of momentum in 2024 that our correspondent Remy Blair joins me now in our studios to talk all about it. Rey, it's great to have you on the show today and that we've seen these Bitcoin prices actually up to start this week as well with the first quarter. See Bitcoin and new records followed by a bit of a cool down in prices. Do you think that momentum can continue from the first quarter? Good afternoon, Kristen. It's great to see you from the Cheddar studios in downtown Manhattan. So, as you mentioned, as we kick off the new trading week, Bitcoin is trading back up of the $70,000 level touching a session high of 72,000 695. Now, over the weekend, Bitcoin prices recovered that $70,000 level for the first time since April 1st. And keep in mind that last week, the Cryptocurrency held below the $70,000 level after kicking off Q two above the 71,000 level. Now, if we look at the chart, Bitcoin hit a new record high this year touching an all time high above $73,700. In mid March, the first quarter of 2024 did get off to a positive start. Keep in mind that on January 10th, the SEC approved the first US spot Bitcoin ETF S and the launch of the spot Bitcoin funds ushered in the era of retail investors gaining exposure to Bitcoin without owning the underlying asset directly. And this was a big step as investors can now gain exposure to Bitcoin with funds traded on a regulated stock exchange. It is now easier for market participants as well as institutions to access the asset class and not buy Bitcoin directly. Investing in an ETF means exposure about the custody or price risks that are traditionally associated with crypto. At the end of the first quarter, the 11 spot Bitcoin ETF that launched this year saw about $12.1 billion in total inflows and those inflows turned out to be positive for Bitcoin prices in Q one with prices seeing nearly a 70% gain on a year to year date basis by the end of March. And so far this year, there has been plenty of activity in terms of regulation, adoption, trading as well as technical levels and fundamentals coming into play. Now, the up upcoming having event and innovations of Bitcoin networks are also getting plenty of attention and could impact price dynamics, Remy such great info there. We're lucky that we have you as a crypto expert here. Um And speaking of that, I know the Bitcoin having and that's going to take place later this month. What do we see usually happen during a having event? And how could that impact prices? Well, Kristen, just as many of us are anticipating the solar eclipse today. The Bitcoin having is an event that many are also anticipating and awaiting. Now. It is expected to take place during the third week of April on or around April 20th. The having event is uh one that happens about every four years or every 210,000 blocks. The supply of Bitcoin is limited to only 21 million tokens and that supply will get tighter. Bitcoin having are scheduled to take place until the entire supply is mined with 29 more hs that will take approx that will take until approximately the year 2140 to complete. So what exactly happens during the having while the event halves the total mining reward to Bitcoin miners. So when a having event takes place, the Bitcoin block reward decreases by half. It's a change in the reward structure for miners. So they will receive half as many Bitcoins for mining blocks on the Blockchain. The upcoming having will lower the block reward from 6.25 to 3.1 25 Bitcoin per block. Every having reduces the amount of n new Bitcoin that enters circulation. And this is viewed as a good thing by existing crypto holders having helped reduce the Bitcoin inflation rate and potential selling pressure from miners. Historically, Bitcoin prices soar after each having data shows that there has been plenty of fluctuation in prices between HS but Bitcoin prices have hit the highest levels in the 6 to 12 months after having event sometimes extending 18 months after having event, the last time a Bitcoin having event took place was back in 2020. And to give you a better idea of some of the price gains after the previous having events in 2012 to 2013, Bitcoin prices rallied from $12.40 to $1170 gaining over 9000%. And when the last uh the 2016 to 2017 of Bitcoin having event took place, the price soared from $680 to $19,400 gaining nearly 3000%. And in the last Bitcoin having event, Bitcoin's prices rose from 8590 to 66,708 and then was a gain of nearly 700%. And that is indeed off the chart performance. While past performance is not indicative of future results, having events have been a catalyst for rallies and Bitcoin prices. We also need to keep in mind that Bitcoin has been around for less than two decades. So while crypto bulls may be eyeing outside gains for the market this year with optimism over more favorable industry policy. This uh it is a presidential election year. So we have to keep that in mind and we'll have to wait and see how the upcoming having affects miners. Remy, such great info for us on such a hot space right now and let correspondent Remy Blair, we appreciate it. She's live for us in studio.