The price of %Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) is holding above $70,000 U.S. as the highly anticipated halving event is set to occur in the coming two weeks.
BTC is currently trading at $70,700 U.S., having risen as high as $72,000 U.S. in the last 48 hours.
The price gains come ahead of the halving event that is expected to take place on or around April 20.
The halving will reduce the rate at which new Bitcoin is created, an event that has historically led to a bull market for the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin’s rise comes as the broader cryptocurrency market remains little changed with the price of smaller cryptocurrencies such as %Litecoin (CRYPTO: $LTE) and %Solana (CRYPTO: $SOL) showing little movement.
When a halving event takes place, the reward for mining transactions is reduced by 50%, lowering the available supplyand pushing the price of Bitcoin sharply higher.
The current block reward for Bitcoin is 6.25 BTC. After the halving, it will decline to 3.125.
Open interest on Bitcoin futures remains at record-high levels above $25 billion U.S., indicating that traders expect more price volatility in coming days leading up to the halving event.