Welcome back to The Breakdown with me, NLW.

It's a daily podcast on macro, Bitcoin, and the big picture power shifts remaking our world.

What's going on, guys? It is Sunday, April 21st, and that means it's time for Long Read Sunday.

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breakdown pod. All right, friends, you know this

weekend we had to talk about the halving. There is always a great debate on whether it's priced

in. What it really means is it significant? And even if it is significant, what is the reason it's

significant? Today we're going to start with a piece by Jim Myers in Blockworks called

Bitcoin's most promising least dramatic halving is almost

here. Jim writes, we're just days away from the next Bitcoin halving an on-chain activity

leading up to the event points to a cycle unlike any other. As public trust in Bitcoin

surges were seeing transaction volume surpass previous cycles and more gradual but consistent price

growth. This combination of record high transactions and relative price stability suggests a milder

halving event followed by a more sustained growth cycle in the coming months.

The industry has experienced a sustained increase in Bitcoin transactions leading up to every

consecutive halving, with 2024 seeing the highest daily transaction volume and more extreme

spikes in activity compared to previous runups.

And while an increase in transaction volume is to be expected with every new cycle,

this year's activity appears to buck several trends. For instance, while daily transaction volume

fluctuated similarly during the lead-up to the 2016 and 2020 halvings, it's skyrocketed

...