Bitcoin should be halving this week, as early as Friday, but this is not the normal Bitcoin halving event.

Every few years, Bitcoin mining becomes less effective. The Bitcoin blockchain has a built-in feature that slows down mining so that it takes twice as much effort to produce the same number of bitcoins as before. That halving is supposed to happen very soon, and it is usually an eagerly anticipated event.

Halving keeps Bitcoin from running out of new coins, as there are only 21 million Bitcoins that can ever be mined. Once those have all been mined, no new coins can be made, and investors will simply have to trade the old ones among themselves.

What usually happens is that just before halving, Bitcoin’s value skyrockets. We have seen that occur year after year around these halving events. That is not what is happening this time, though.

Bitcoin has been down recently, having a difficult time getting above $70,000. Over the last week, Bitcoin has lost 12.34%, which defies expectations for the upcoming halving.

What Is Happening This Time?

So, what is making this halving different from past ones? Well, the biggest difference is the state of the economy. Inflation is high already and still growing, according to the last numbers. There is an FOMC meeting scheduled for today, and some light might be shed on the state of the economy and where inflation is headed, but the outlook is expected to be less than positive.

Not a lot of people want to invest in the risky, unstable cryptocurrency market when they are not sure when the economy will turn around and when inflation will get better. There is a lot of hesitancy right now in all markets, and that is making it difficult for Bitcoin to move higher. The coin is currently priced at $62,314 (BTC/USD), and there is little hope that the coin will break out and surge super high very quickly over the coming days.

A resistance level has been established for Bitcoin around $72,000, and if that can be broken in the next few days, then there may be hope that Bitcoin could massively benefit from the halving.