Explainer-Bitcoin's 'halving': what is it and does it matter?

FILE PHOTO: Physical representations of the bitcoin cryptocurrency are seen in this illustration taken October 24, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - Bitcoin's long-anticipated 'halving' is, depending on where you sit, a vital event that will burnish the cryptocurrency's value as an increasingly scarce commodity, or little more than a technical change talked up by speculators to inflate its price.

The halving comes after bitcoin hit an all-time high of $73,803.25 in March.