Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV are about to undergo their first ever halvings, but you’d be forgiven for not knowing about it. What would normally be headline news in the crypto world has been overshadowed by the disruption caused by the coronavirus, so much so that the twin events have taken a back seat, with just a few with a vested interest discussing the impact on the tokens.
Two Halvings in One Week
Bitcoin Cash’s halving is due some time on Wednesday morning Eastern time when the block height reaches 630,000, at which point the number of BCH coins created per mined block will fall by half, from 12.5 to 6.25. Bitcoin SV will have its halving around a day later at the same block height and with the same reward decrease.
Under normal circumstances this would be a cause for celebration, but with the world still gripped by the coronavirus, the twin halvings have been overlooked. However, they haven’t slipped completely under the radar, although the bulk of the opinions have been less than optimistic in tone:
#BitcoinCash #bch halving happening in a few hours.
Current hash rate 3 EH – (for reference #bitcoin is 103EH)
Curious how low the hash rate might drop post halving pic.twitter.com/w7LuFvAFv2— The Crypto Lark (@TheCryptoLark) April 8, 2020
Bitcoin Cash $BCH halving in ~10 days
Once that happens Bitcoin Cash miners will probably switch to mining $BTC instead imo
Bitcoin Cash will cease to exist
— RookieXBT (@RookieXBT) March 29, 2020
One of the issues that has been raised is that of security:
Bitcoin Cash $BCH halving in ~10 days
Once that happens Bitcoin Cash miners will probably switch to mining $BTC instead imo
Bitcoin Cash will cease to exist
— RookieXBT (@RookieXBT) March 29, 2020
This succinct post from Kraken Business Development Director Dan Held, who has previously called Bitcoin SV a “silly endeavor”, sums up the situation very neatly, with the potential drop in hashrate post-halving leading to added risk of a 51% attack.
Litecoin experienced a similar situation after its halving in August 2019, seeing miners abandon the network in search of mining coins with a higher reward – the Litecoin hashrate fell from a peak nearly 500 TH/s to around 200 TH/s shortly afterward.
Bitcoin SV in a Similar Boat
Bitcoin SV developer Brad Jasper has added his name to the list of people who foresee a negative impact of the halvings, stating that, “When BSV/BCH halve, they will both lose hash power, likely to BTC”, although he believes that BSV at least will recover due to its “utility” and potential for network growth.
It is very likely that there will be an exodus of sorts to Bitcoin by BCH and BSV miners, and it will be a very interesting spectator sport to see which, if either, survive, and if their hashrate reductions lead to any compromises in security. After all, it would be horrible to see Craig Wright’s vanity project go up in a big ball of flames. Horrible.
Horrible.
