The Bitcoin halving slashes the incentives rewarded to miners in half and occurs approximately every four years as per the Bitcoin code. Its purpose is to reduce the issuance of bitcoins, creating a sense of scarcity and preserving the digital, gold-like quality of the cryptocurrency.

Despite historical trends suggesting that the impact of the halving may take several months to reflect in Bitcoin’s price, some investors speculate on potential near-term downside risks in the cryptocurrency. For instance, JPMorgan has expressed concerns about downside risks in the short term.

Leading publicly-listed bitcoin mining companies have been gearing up for the halving event by investing in more efficient mining equipment, boosting their electricity capacity, and increasing their hash rates – which gauge the computational efficiency of crypto miners.

However, smaller and less efficient mining operations may face challenges post-halving, potentially being forced offline. This situation could provide larger miners with opportunities to gain more market share and could lead to potential mergers and acquisitions in the sector.

Bitcoin witnessed a slight increase at the start of the week following the completion of its fourth halving, with the price climbing by 1.8% to reach $65,891.28. Additionally, Ether rose by 1.5% to $3,198.06, according to Coin Metrics.

Notably, public cryptocurrency miners, such as Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms, experienced premarket gains on Monday, with Marathon Digital rising about 3% and Riot Platforms gaining 5% after the halving event. Companies like CleanSpark and Iris Energy also saw increases of 3% and 4%, respectively.