Berlin - The price of bitcoin slumped ahead of the next halving
event, which slashes revenues for those who create new units of the
online cryptocurrency.
After briefly topping the 10,000-dollar mark late last week, many
investors got rid of their bitcoin currency over the weekend, causing
its value to drop to as low as 8,520 dollars.
The cryptocurrency could only slightly recoup its losses on Monday,
when it was trading at around 8,700 dollars.
The process of halving is anchored in the digital currency's code and
occurs roughly every four years, in a bid to protect against losses
caused by excessive supply.
It limits the rewards for bitcoin "miners" - people who run computer
programmes that free up new bitcoin units - after every 210,000
blocks are mined. Blocks, which make up the currency's blockchain
protocol, are files carrying transaction data.
The next halving is expected for later on Monday.
Supporters of the currency, meanwhile, are expecting a rise in value
to follow and have therefore been investing more ahead of the event.
dpa