The price of bitcoin dropped slightly Monday following the “halving” of the cryptocurrency, with some bitcoin miners reported to be quitting the business because of lower rewards.

The bitcoin halving, the third time the process has taken place, has seen the rewards given to those who mine bitcoin drop by half from 12.5 bitcoin to 6.25 per block. Bitcoin goes through the process roughly every four years, and it’s designed to reduce the supply of new bitcoin available so that bitcoin itself, which is finite, doesn’t run out.

In theory, the halving creates a scarcity of supply and that was what investors were counting on, hoping the price of bitcoin would grow strongly in the lead-up to the event. That hasn’t happened, at least not yet, as bitcoin has declined in value post-halving. As of 9:15 p.m. EDT, bitcoin was down 1% over the last 24 hours, to $8,629, after trading as high as $9,149.05 as of 8:25 a.m.

Despite the blip, analysts and other fans are predicting better days ahead. Galaxy Digital Chief Executive Officer Mike Novogratz told CNBC that he believes bitcoin could climb toward $20,000 by the end of the year. Dan Morehead, founder and CEO of Pantera Capital, is predicting that if history were to repeat itself, bitcoin will peak in August 2021 at $115,212.

With the rewards for bitcoin mining being cut in half, some miners are said to be abandoning the business. Around a third of bitcoin mining firms are reported to be in the process of switching off machines as the business becomes unprofitable following the halving. Alejandro De La Torre, vice president at mining pool Poolin, told Bitcoin.com that firms shutting down bitcoin mining farms are mostly operating inefficient “old generation” mining rigs that have higher electricity costs, making them unprofitable now that the mining rewards are lower.

Those turning off bitcoin mining equipment may not be exiting the cryptocurrency altogether. “The incentive is less for miners now to mine bitcoin and they will probably switch to more profitable cryptocurrencies. So in the short term, there’s going to be pressure for bitcoin,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA in New York, told Channel News Asia.

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