bitcoin: Time to ‘HODL’ on bitcoin, experts say

Mumbai: India’s key cryptocurrency platforms saw transactions nearly triple and new users more than double in the weeks leading up to what is known as ‘halving’ of bitcoin on Monday, industry insiders said.

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Wazir X saw trading volumes increase by 275% in the last one month, while Unocoin said customer signups increased 200% in April, ahead of the halving event.

For traders of bitcoin, a popular cryptocurrency, ‘halving’ is a significant event because scarcity underpins its value. Only 21 million bitcoins exist in total. To receive bitcoin as reward, people (who in industry parlance are termed “miners”) follow a set of complex protocols to solve puzzles. So, the halving of rewards — for example if one used to get 12.5 bitcoins earlier to solve a puzzle, it gets reduced to 6.25 bitcoins – automatically means there is a shortage of bitcoins.

In bitcoin history, the first halving happened in 2012, while the second took place in 2016….