Well that was very anticlimactic, I am just happy we are past the halving speculation phase. It was hard to focus on anything else over the past couple of weeks. I think the real effect of the halving will manifest itself over a longer time frame.
Anyway, I hope that we can now go back to focus on solving the underlying issues we are dealing with in crypto.
I took note of the hash last night, and nothing has changed. Looks like the miners are sticking with Bitcoin, which is awesome. So I'm hoping for bitcoin to rise and take the rest of us with it!
It's actually a little higher. 1.52 to 1.56 Exahashes
Well we were not going to see any impact immediately anyway, it will take time for the reserves these pools and miners keep to dry out before the lower block reward affects them at all. Also if some of them have reward sharing deals with power generation plants using excess electricity then there is no reason why they should not be able to continue.
What is clear is any hope for any smaller mining operation without access to cheap power, hardware or labor is lost. Even KNC miners had to close down. Mining will continue but the entry cost and requirements for that business are way above what the average mining operation can afford.
Yah, centralization is an ongoing process with Bitcoin, and I suspect it won't change. However, I thought the biggest immediate fear was that the mining hash would drastically drop, causing longer confirmations and huge backups.
Seriously, companies like Coinbase, who are effectively sole gateways for entire regions need to add other coins for the good of the ecosystem as well as to protect themselves. I can't believe they haven't yet. It's insane.
I couldn't agree more--the real issue with the halving is centralization, not hashrate. I spent months arguing on reddit that the halving would not significantly affect the hashrate (Back when many were calling for a 50% reduction in hashrate, I predicted a 10-20% decrease, and even that didn't come to fruition, at least not yet.)
A business will continue any legal and ethical activity that is profitable, period. When you mine with a) existing equipment, b) inexpensive labor, and c) free electricity, your cost basis is so small that you'd be crazy to stop mining. So the Chinese miners went from making $X profit per day to 1/2X profit per day--profit is still profit.
A reduction in block reward simply encourages the centralization of mining in places where electricity and labor are cheapest; it does not discourage mining itself. The halving may seriously affect the future development and production of mining equipment--that remains to be seen. But the halving merely shifted production. Some older miners in areas with higher electricity costs (e.g. the West) certainly were turned off (or will be soon). But when electricity is free and labor is nearly so, it will just result in additional centralization.
I strongly look forward to whatever it is that Evan has planned in the future to reduce mining centralization, because as it is, Proof of Work has severe unintended consequences that will (in the long term) likely cripple the concept entirely.