On April 20th, at 0:09 UTC, the Bitcoin network reached a new milestone with the completion of its fourth halving at block 840,000, reducing the mining reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per block.
Shares of top mining companies such as Marathon Digital (MARA) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) have plunged more than 35% since the beginning of the year in anticipation of the upcoming Bitcoin halving. Analysts from these firms, however, consider the fears over reduced block rewards to be unfounded and maintain a positive outlook on the miners' activities.
CiberInteligenciaSV, the hacking group behind the security breach of El Salvador's state-run Bitcoin wallet Chivo, has started leaking portions of the app's source code. They had already disclosed the personal information of almost all adult users in El Salvador (5.1 million people) who downloaded the wallet.
Harvest Fund Management, Bosera Asset Management, and China Asset Management have secured approval from the Hong Kong regulator to launch spot ETFs for Bitcoin and Ethereum.
VanEck CEO Jan van Eck is championing a shift in focus towards decreasing transaction fees on Ethereum and Bitcoin, rather than pushing for another spot ETF. He argues that the unpredictable and often high fees significantly hinder both app developers and end-users.
Goldman Sachs' asset management investment chief, Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, revealed the bank's decision against introducing crypto services, attributing this to client disinterest and the challenge of assessing Bitcoin's genuine value.
