As Bitcoin (BTC) halving is fix to occur in less than eight hours, the blockchain is currently registering a slowdown in activity.

A mempool visualization website shows that the number of pending transactions currently sits at around four,000 — almost ii blocks worth of transfers.

While the blockchain is never fully cleared due to a continuous stream of new transactions, the demand appears to be depression enough that the network is able to dispatch all incoming requests.

This is not entirely unusual, every bit demand varies heavily betwixt dissimilar times of day. The last time that the mempool was "empty" was on May 6, according to the data.

Unconfirmed transactions in the last two weeks

Unconfirmed transactions in the last two weeks. Source: jochen-hoenicke.de

Even so, as Cointelegraph reported before today, the network saw a dramatic upsurge in activity in the days prior to the halving.

Calm before the tempest

Network action is often dictated by major price movements, where traders rush to send their BTC to exchanges. While a price "halving dump" occurred on May x, the price has stabilized as of printing fourth dimension, partially explaining the lull in action.

As Cointelegraph reported, the cost of Bitcoin may continue its fall after the halving issue passes. Traders seem to be currently undecided on which direction BTC's price will option, especially equally uncertainty mounts in traditional financial markets.

Bitcoin's correlation with the stock marketplace reached a value of 0.35 in the past few months, making information technology a statistically meaning figure.

Correlation chart of BTC and the S&P 500, 90 day average

Correlation nautical chart of BTC and the South&P 500, 90 twenty-four hours average. Source: Coinmetrics.io

The halving will occur in the eye of the U.Due south. trading twenty-four hours, potentially combining its effects with influence from traditional markets. The firsthand upshot of the halving on the price is difficult to predict, every bit the decrease in newly minted BTC is assorted with the well known effect of "selling the news."

A stock market rally may reverberate positively on Bitcoin's price, though European markets are currently trading in a slight red.