Bitcoin – The Halving II (Moon or Bomb)

This is the sister edition to the “The Halving” created by artist Christina Hess in celebration of the Bitcoin Halving.  This piece represents the time period from the 2016 halving to the next halving in 2020 and comments on BTC price speculation.  Some suggest the reduction in Bitcoin inflation will create more scarcity and increase the price.  Others suggest a reduction in block rewards will reduce miner participation and make the network less secure.

The central element of this art piece is a rendition of the tally stick — an ancient device used to record debts between two parties.  A stick was marked to signify the debt, then broken and given to each party.  The larger half was given to the creditor and the short end given to the debtor (hence the saying “Short end of the stick“).  Similar to the private-key to public-key relationship of cryptography, only one pair could be combined to verify the debt.  In this regard, tally sticks represent sound money by not contributing to fractional reserve banking.  Additional reading:  Controlled Supply of Bitcoin.