With Bitcoin’s fourth mining reward halving imminent, Goldman Sachs urges investors to exercise caution in extrapolating past halving cycles for price predictions, emphasizing the role of macroeconomic conditions and inflows into spot ETFs.

While previous halvings have historically coincided with Bitcoin price appreciation, Goldman’s Fixed Income, Currencies, and Commodities (FICC) and Equities team warns against simplistic interpretations due to varying macroeconomic landscapes.

Despite bullish sentiments surrounding previous halvings, the time taken to reach peak prices and the magnitude of price increases differed significantly across cycles.

Crucially, the macroeconomic backdrop during previous halvings contrasted with the current environment characterized by high inflation and interest rates. Previous cycles occurred amid rapid growth in M2 money supply and near-zero interest rates, fostering risk-taking behavior across financial markets.

For history to repeat itself, supportive macroeconomic conditions are deemed essential.

However, present circumstances diverge from past cycles, notably with interest rates in the U.S. surpassing 5% and market expectations discounting prospects of rate cuts amid persistent inflation and economic resilience.

Despite Bitcoin’s 50% rally this year and record highs preceding the halving, driven by inflows into U.S.-based spot ETFs, some analysts speculate that much of the post-halving surge may have already materialized.

Goldman views the halving as a “psychological reminder” of Bitcoin’s capped supply, emphasizing the significance of ETF uptake in determining medium-term price outlook.

The team suggests that whether the halving event leads to a “buy the rumor, sell the news” scenario may have a limited impact on Bitcoin’s medium-term trajectory. Instead, they highlight ongoing supply-demand dynamics and ETF demand as primary drivers of spot price action in the crypto markets.

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