Bitcoin Keeps Breaking Records, But Each Halving Cycle Delivers Smaller Gains

**Bitcoin’s Historical Price Trajectory Shows Shrinking Post-Halving Gains**

Bitcoin (BTC) has exhibited a clear historical price pattern: after each halving, the asset climbs to new highs. However, recent data reveal that the magnitude of these post-halving gains has steadily diminished over time, particularly since the second halving.

**Returns Are Shrinking Fast**

Bitcoin halvings reduce the rate at which new coins enter circulation by slashing block rewards. Since 2012, block rewards have dropped by 87.5%—from 25 BTC to the current 3.125 BTC—fueling scarcity-driven narratives that traditionally support Bitcoin’s upward price momentum.

Over this period, Bitcoin’s value has surged more than 9,110-fold, reaching a high of $109,000 on September 1, 2025. Just a month later, the cryptocurrency climbed above $120,000.

Despite these impressive numbers, CoinGecko reports that post-halving returns have significantly waned. The second halving cycle in 2017 delivered peak gains of 29x, the 2021 cycle saw returns drop to 6.7x, and the latest 2025 cycle has produced a comparatively modest 93.1% increase.

Interestingly, this cycle’s rhythm shifted when Bitcoin hit a record $73,400 in March 2024—months before the fourth halving—challenging historical expectations about the timing of peak prices.

**Market Activity Explodes**

Market activity has grown exponentially alongside Bitcoin’s price, with daily trading volumes soaring from roughly $20 million in 2013 to nearly $30 billion in 2025. This heightened activity has not deterred publicly listed companies from adopting Bitcoin as a treasury asset.

As of October 3, nearly 1,040,061 BTC were held by almost 200 publicly listed firms, accounting for almost 5% of the total BTC supply. Leading this corporate adoption is Strategy, which holds 640,031 BTC—representing 63.2% of all corporate-held Bitcoin—and recently added another 4,048 BTC on September 2.

Several new companies have also made significant moves into Bitcoin. Twenty One, backed by Tether, Bitfinex, Cantor Fitzgerald, and SoftBank, has purchased 43,514 BTC since May, becoming the third-largest corporate holder.

Meanwhile, US-based healthcare firm KindlyMD expanded its holdings through a merger with Nakamoto BTC Holdings, adding 5,765 BTC and announcing plans to raise $5 billion to further grow its treasury.

Internationally, organizations like MetaPlanet in Japan and Treasury BV in Europe are building sizable Bitcoin treasuries. Treasury BV recently raised $147 million to acquire more than 1,000 BTC.

**Bitcoin’s Backbone Strengthens**

As institutional holdings climb, the Bitcoin network itself is growing stronger. The network’s mining hash rate has been on a steady upward trajectory, driven by increasing participation from both individual miners and institutional players.

Over the past year alone, the hash rate surged 88%, rising from 670 million TH/s to 1.266 ZH/s.

The US mining ecosystem has expanded significantly under the Trump administration, aided in part by the relocation of Chinese mining hardware manufacturers—such as Bitmain, Canaan, and MicroBT—to the US. These moves were driven by tariffs and regulatory pressures in China.

Domestic firms including HIVE, Hut 8, Marathon, and CleanSpark have increasingly prioritized alternative energy sources for their new mining facilities, bolstering the network’s sustainability.

Adding momentum to this trend, Eric Trump recently co-founded American Bitcoin Corp, which debuted on the Nasdaq, further signaling growing institutional interest in Bitcoin mining and infrastructure.

—

**In summary**, while Bitcoin continues to break price records and attract institutional adoption, the post-halving price gains have compressed over time. This evolving landscape reflects a maturing asset class supported by expanding network infrastructure and increasing corporate treasury participation.
https://bitcoinethereumnews.com/bitcoin/bitcoin-keeps-breaking-records-but-each-halving-cycle-delivers-smaller-gains/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bitcoin-keeps-breaking-records-but-each-halving-cycle-delivers-smaller-gains