What to Watch at Consensus: Distributed – Bitcoin Halving

Crypto’s biggest conference of the year, Consensus: Distributed, coincides with bitcoin’s third halving event, perhaps the most anticipated event within crypto this year. 

While a simple act of arithmetic, when the network will automatically reduce its mining subsidy by half, the halving will have repercussions across the crypto industry. Miners, of course, will be directly impacted. But speculators and traders, based on data from previous halvings, have also been eying this moment. 

Consensus: Distributed will feature a number of programs and special events tied to the 2020 halving. Here’s a rundown for all those that want to stay in the know, before and after the historic happening. 

The halving

While not exclusively focused on the halving, Monday’s 1:00 p.m. session Bitcoin 101: Why You Should (Maybe) Buy Bitcoin and How, will examine some of the arguments surrounding the post-halved bull run theory. 

Whenever the block is mined that will trigger the automatic reduction, PwC’s Alex de Vries, Bison Trail’s Joe Lallouz and Bitfarm’s Wes Fulford are sitting ready to break down this quadrennial event. The Bitcoin Halve Time Show is slated for 7:00-8:30 p.m. ET. 

Funny story. The halving was actually predicted to occur sometime in the wee hours of Tuesday’s morning. Until a number of miners came online in anticipation of the event, pushing up the network’s hashing power, and also the much anticipated event. Still, from 2:00-3:00 a.m. Jordan Chen of major mining machine manufacturer MicroBT and Wang Chun, founder of the world’s largest mining pool F2Pool, will join a host of other heavy weights to celebrate the event in “Happy Halving Day! How Bitcoin’s Quadrennial Landmark Impacts Miners.”

On Tuesday from 10:30-11:30 a.m., Santiment CEO Maksim Balashevich and Bitstorio Consoritio Group Travin Keith come online for a workshop to teach people how to understand block explorers and use them to make investment decisions. The show is conveniently called: What Am I Looking At? Understanding Block Explorers and How To Use Them to Make Investment Decisions.

A similar workshop will be held on Wednesday from 10:00-11:00 a.m. called “Research Hub: Storytelling Through Charts.” This time featuring Nomics CEO Clay Collins, DuneAnalytics CEO Fredrik Haga and Coin Metrics’ Lucas Nuzzi.

From 1:30-3:00 p.m. CoinDesk’s Brad Keoun, co-author of the popular First Mover newsletter, will be hosting a panel discussion with some of the most knowledgeable traders and economists in the space. Fidelity’s Amanda Fabiano, BlockFi’s Zac Prince and Hedge Fund Manager at Blockchain Opportunity Fund Matt D’Souza will all make an appearance. 

Nic Carter and host of other data experts will appear on Thursday’s Research Hub: Workshopping Famous Metrics, from 9:00-10:00 a.m.