'Bitcoin halving' is coming. So what is it all about?

I’m here with Yuka Roya from the business desk. Hi there Yuka. Hi Tom. The crypto industry is holding its breath for a big event. It’s called Bitcoin halving. What’s that about? Well Tom, it’s a technical event that happens roughly every four years that cuts the supply of Bitcoin by half. The next one is about is expected to happen on Friday and it’s generating a lot of hype. A crypto exchange and even a multinational bank have released as emphasising how even more valuable on assets but Bitcoin could become after the halving. Well, in 2012 one Bitcoin bought you this much pizza, In 2016 this much pizza, in 2020 this much pizza. Roughly every four years future supply Bitcoin is reduced. So historically, you get more, not less. Now for the uninitiated, bitcoins are mined by a network of computers solving extremely complicated maths problems to verify transactions on its blockchain, which is a decentralised public Ledger that keeps. Now, once a new block of transactions is added to the blockchain, the miner gets a reward in the form of newly released bitcoins. When a person by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto wrote the code for the technology, he decided to cap its total supply to 21 million now and in order to maintain scarcity, the algorithm cuts the reward for Bitcoin mining by half every 210,000 blocks added in 2950. Tokens were rewarded to each transaction block after three halving events since then, the current reward is 6 1/4 and will go down to 3.125 soon. It will go on like this until the magic #21 million coins have been mined on. OK, so going back to this event Bitcoin halving, how does that event impact real life investors? Well, with the history of volatility surrounding Bitcoin, it’s hard to predict really. But past halvings did lead to a surge in its price and now a year after the first halving, the price of Bitcoin was up almost 9000%, but it was still at $1000 back then. Last month, it hit a new record of around $75,000. It has retreated from that level over the past week, with some analysts warning of a potential drop after the next Harvey. OK, in another news story you’ve picked out for us a business news story, we’re turning to Venezuela. The oil sector tells pretty hefty blow a decision from Washington to reimpose sanctions. But the US administration decided not to renew a special licence agreed last October with Venezuela, that allowed it to freely export its crude and boost investment in the sector. Now that deal, which expired early Thursday, was made on condition that President Nicolas Maduro implement his promised road map towards this summer’s elections. U.S. companies have 45 days to wrap up operations. But Caracas says it remains open to business with foreign firms, including European joint joint venture partners. Jonimil Jamin has this report. Nicolas Maduro didn’t mince his words as the Venezuelan president learned of renewed crippling U.S. sanctions on his country. When did we become a gringo colony As star of the United States? There is no sanction. There is no threat that today will harm Venezuela’s effort to build a new productive economic model. Washington refused to extend a license that had allowed U.S. trade with the Venezuela’s oil, gas and mining sectors for the past six months. That October deal was contingent on promises of free and fair elections in 2024. The agreement fell away after Maduro refused his opponents to run against him. The regime has intensified repression. They’ve incarcerated more people. They have persecuted and barred opposition members. Venezuela’s state-run oil producer PDVSA could now be hit particularly hard. Business is blocked with the US unless a specific license from the US Treasury Department can be obtained. But it’s turning to other partners. Spanish company Repsol on Wednesday vowed to continue its work with the Caracas oil giant. Today only confirms the commitment that we already made on December 18th of last year, and it is a consequence of the commitment of both parties. We will continue to do business in Venezuela and support its growth through oil. Adding more economic woe on an already struggling Venezuelan population could also yet bring risk to the Biden administration ahead of US elections. Venezuela has vowed to burden the country with mass migration of its own nationals should the same policies continue 30 falls John Will Jamin with that report. Now global oil markets are pretty steady as new sanctions. Western sanctions were also imposed on individuals in Iran. Now US crude prices are currently slightly up, a day after concern over weaker demand outweighed geopolitical concerns and significantly pushed prices down by as much as 3%. Brent crude right now is pretty flat, dipping just nought point nought 3% from the previous close and that’s it for business. OK, thank you very much indeed for that business update. Yuka Roya there from the business desk.