coindesk.com 
This is an excerpt from CoinDesk newsletter 'Daybook.' Sign up here, if you haven't already.
We're more than halfway to the Bitcoin blockchain's next mining reward halving, a programmed supply slowdown that occurs every 210,000 blocks. There are now fewer than 100,000 blocks to go, and bears should take note even though they appear to have the upper hand in the market at the moment.
To appreciate the importance of this number, it helps to understand what a block actually is. The Bitcoin blockchain is a decentralized ledger containing a record of every transaction since its inception. Miners compete to add batches of transactions to the chain, and are rewarded with newly created bitcoin. A new batch, or block, is added roughly every 10 minutes, and miners currently receive 3.125 $BTC each time.
In less than two years, or around April 12, 2028, that figure will drop by 50% to 1.5625 $BTC, based on the number of blocks remaining.
That's important because bitcoin bear markets have tended to end between 12 and 18 months before the next halving. This means the process could begin as early as October, a projection veteran chart trader Peter Brandt recently made.
It also means bears could continue to dominate price action for at least the next couple of months. There are plenty of risks, such as elevated oil prices, hardening Treasury yields and ETF outflows, that could deepen the selloff in the near term.
According to Deribit's Chief Commercial Officer Jean-David Péquignot, the $76,000 to $77,000 price zone is the immediate critical support level for bitcoin.
"A clean breakdown here brings $70,000 to $72,000 into view; the next major level below that is the $60,000 level," he told CoinDesk. Stay .
