Cointelegraph is holding a live event to award the Bitcoin (BTC) halving, set to occur in merely a few hours.

As profits for miners will be cut in one-half in nigh 10 BTC blocks, the event represents a bittersweet moment for the industry. Cointelegraph organized a console to acquire more about how the halving will impact miners featuring Marco Streng, the CEO of Genesis Mining, Alina Yao, the head of OKEx Pool, and Josh Goodbody, the head of growth at Binance.

No mining death spiral

An unlikely — but theoretically possible — consequence of the halving outcome is the and so-called "decease spiral." The hypothesis claims that as profits for miners subtract so of a sudden, many volition cease mining, which will consequence in a slower blockchain and thus even less profit. The result is a roughshod cycle where the blockchain could potentially grind to a halt.

Just the members of the panel were chiselled in excluding this as a possibility, even considering of technical reasons. As Streng explained:

"Particularly the large scale miners, information technology's non every bit easy as just proverb, 'Oh, okay, today it'due south not looking and then skilful and so I switch all off, tomorrow… Ok, it looks amend, I turn it on once more.' Home miners can practise that [...] but if you're in 100 Megawatt plus areas and consume half of a whole power establish, then it'due south a dissimilar scale and a dissimilar matter."

Streng believes that the removal of hash rate volition be a more than gradual procedure every bit weeks get past and miners are able to assess the situation.

Yao predicted that about thirty% of the hash rate volition drop due to it being composed of older Bitmain S9 miners, which currently "bring at most $8 [a month] of profit." But it is not impossible for them to stay, provided that they have access to extremely cheap electricity, Streng said.

Goodbody agreed wholly, saying, "Everybody thinks something drastic is going to change. [...] It only doesn't friction match with what nosotros've seen historically."

Miners take modeled every eventuality and are fix for the sudden alter, argued Goodbody.

What is the effect on cost?

One common belief behind the halving is that miners always sell the Bitcoins they mine, and thus a reduction in inflation will have a disproportionate effect on the daily selling pressure level.

But Goodbody revealed that many miners practice non simply sell all the BTC they mine:

"Information technology's really dependent on the miner. Some have sophisticated operations where they utilise options and futures to manage their inventory in smart ways. [...] It isn't necessarily a given that a miner that produces Bitcoin will sell that to see their day-to-day running costs."

Yao also added that miners are "true believers" in Bitcoin, so many of them hold the coins they mine.

Just the long-term effects of the halving on Bitcoin are nonetheless undeniable, according to the panelists. "At that place'southward an overall supply constriction that has a beneficial long-term movement on Bitcoin cost," Goodbody added.

The Cointelegraph event continues with a panel discussion featuring Tim Draper talking about the future of Bitcoin. Tune in for the livestream to bank check information technology out!