- For the first time since April 1, Bitcoin surged beyond the $71,000 mark during Asian trading, fueled by anticipation of the upcoming reward halving later this month — sparking a wave of optimism in the Ordinal and BRC-20 spheres.
- Slashing the speed of new coin issuance, the halving event traditionally signals the onset of bullish momentum in the crypto market.
During Monday’s Asian session, Bitcoin breached the $71,000 threshold ahead of the approaching reward halving scheduled for April 20, injecting fresh vigor into bets centered around the Ordinal and BRC-20 ecosystems while the broader cryptocurrency landscape held relatively steady.
According to CoinGecko, BTC climbed by 2% over the last 24 hours, marking its loftiest altitude since early April. Meanwhile, the CoinDesk 20 index — tracking the top liquid tokens excluding stablecoins — inched up modestly by 0.43%.
Halving Mechanics and Market Implications
The halving event cuts miner incentives by half, effectively throttling the flow of newly minted bitcoins and constraining fresh supply. Historically, such contractions in issuance have paved the way for bullish rallies.
6.25 BTC | 3.125 BTC | Over $25 billion (record-high, sustained for weeks) |
Presently, miners receive 6.25 BTC per block, which will halve to 3.125 BTC once the event unfolds. Notably, BTC futures markets have kept open interest elevated at all-time highs surpassing $25 billion, reflecting robust leveraged positions anticipating intensified price swings.
Rising Tokens in Bitcoin’s Orbit
Several tokens tethered to the Bitcoin ecosystem experienced gains amid expectations that BTC could rally post-halving. These instruments offer traders avenues to tap into Bitcoin’s upside without directly engaging in futures or leveraged plays.
Last week’s data reveals that Ordinals trading volumes eclipsed those of perennial frontrunners such as Ethereum and Solana, driven largely by projects like NodeMonkes and Pups. Meanwhile, NFT marketplaces across all blockchains noted a sharp 95% drop in transaction activity during the same stretch — highlighting Ordinals’ localized surge.
Noteworthy Token Movements
- BRC-20 tokens collectively gained close to 6% within 24 hours.
- Infrastructure token Multibit (MULTI) jumped by 22%.
- Popular meme coins including pepe (PEPE), alex (ALEX), and pizza (PIZA) rallied as much as 60%.
- Conversely, PUPS, the native token of the Pups Ordinal project, slumped 22% as traders cashed in profits following a staggering 500% weekend surge.
Decoding Ordinals and BRC-20 Tokens
Ordinals enable data to be inscribed directly onto the Bitcoin blockchain by embedding references to digital artworks in tiny bitcoin transactions. The BRC-20 token standard — a nod to Bitcoin Request for Comment — debuted last year, unlocking the ability to mint and transfer tokens natively on Bitcoin’s network for the first time ever.