Bitcoin 'halving' cuts supply of new tokens in threat to miners

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Bitcoin software update called the «halving» has been completed, dealing a potential blow to the companies that make money by ensuring that the digital currency functions smoothly and securely.

The once-every-four-years event cut in half the so-called mining reward, which is the amount of Bitcoin released from the network to compensate companies known as miners for validating transactions. The modification went into effect as of 8:10 pm Friday evening New York time, according to data from analytics website mempool.space and Blockchain.com. The price of Bitcoin was little changed near the $64,000 level following the halving.

This change to the rewards was all by design and preordained by the code that runs Bitcoin's blockchain. The supposed anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, sought to use the halving mechanism to maintain an eventual hard cap of 21 million Bitcoin in order to keep the original cryptocurrency from being inflationary. As a result of this halving, the fourth since 2012, the daily reward paid to miners will drop to 450 Bitcoin from 900.

Bitcoin advocates expect the halving to be a positive catalyst for the latest bull market since it further reduces the supply of new tokens at a time when demand