Heard of bitcoin’s ‘halving’? It’s set to shake crypto markets in 2020 | News

By Tom Wilson

LONDON (Reuters) – If you’re not a bitcoin enthusiast, you probably haven’t heard what’s happening next year: It’s called the “halving”, and it will cut production of the cryptocurrency by 50%.

No one’s in control of this process. It’s a rule written into bitcoin’s underlying code by its pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto more than a decade ago.

The event, expected in May 2020, slashes by half the number of new coins awarded to bitcoin miners who provide global supply of the cryptocurrency by solving complex maths puzzles.

That’s a big change in a market worth about $120 billion where bitcoin worth several billions dollars are created every year.

Players in the know are preparing for the sharp price gains and volatility that have accompanied previous halvings, which happen roughly every four years and act to both ensure the scarcity of bitcoin and keep a cap on price inflation.

There are likely to…