The Bitcoin Halving Approaches: Miners BitFury and BTCC Not Concerned

The second-ever Bitcoin block reward halving is estimated to take place in a little under two weeks, and the overall effects of this event are still somewhat of an unknown. There has been a runup in the Bitcoin price over the past month, and many claim this is due to the upcoming halving, where the number of new bitcoins created roughly every 10 minutes is cut in half (from 25 to 12.5).
To get some informed opinions about what could happen next, Bitcoin Magazine reached out to BitFury CEO Valery Vavilov and BTCC COO Samson Mow. BitFury manufactures ASIC Bitcoin mining chips (and mines with them), and BTCC controls one of the largest Bitcoin mining pools (in addition to other Bitcoin-related services).
A Slight Drop in the Network Hashrate
Although Vavilov and Mow were contacted separately, they had similar views on the upcoming Bitcoin halving. One of the most common, possibly-negative effects of the halving discussed in the past has been the idea that the network hashrate will decline as a result of the lower number of bitcoins released to miners on a regular schedule.
In terms of this possible issue, Vavilov stated:
‘Some decline in the Bitcoin network hashrate is expected, and we believe it will be insignificant. The most important thing is that even if the hashrate declines, it will not compromise the security of the Bitcoin network. As to the Bitcoin price, it surged close to 20 percent over the weekend spanning June 11th and June 12th, and it is a very robust appreciation. This is an indication that the halving event is regarded as a good thing for the Bitcoin industry and it is positively impacting the market even before it takes place.’

This post was published at Bitcoin Magazine on Jun 27, 2016.