The fourth "halving" of the Bitcoin network was finished on Friday night, the total number of bitcoins from 6.25 to 3.125.
Prior to the event, the price of bitcoin has fluctuated a lot; this week, it dropped by roughly 4% to trade at $64,100, according to Coin Metrics.
The specified "halving" of bitcoin, which takes place approximately every four years, has an effect on the amount of bitcoin produced.
Miners solve complex math puzzles using farms of noisy, specialized computers; they are rewarded with a set quantity of bitcoins
According to the code of bitcoin, every 210,000 "blocks"—transaction records—that are created during mining are subject to halving.
Although the exact dates are not known, that equates to about once every four years.
Meanwhile, miners will have to balance maintaining low operating costs with making up for the drop in rewards.
It's still unclear how to find conclusive evidence about the effects of the bitcoin halving on the environment.
However, it's no secret that cryptocurrency mining requires a lot of energy overall, and over time, operations that rely on polluting sources have raised particular concerns.