Bitcoin's value dipped below the $60,000 mark, casting a shadow over the impending bitcoin mining halving event, which is expected to occur imminently.

Around 12:00 p.m. ET on April 17, the world's leading cryptocurrency saw its value plummet to $59,889, as reported by The Block's Price page for bitcoin. However, it managed to claw back slightly, hovering just above $60,300 by 1:05 p.m. ET on the same day, indicating a 3.9% decrease of $2,423 over the past 24 hours.

In the perpetual futures market, the wave of liquidations surged to $15.54 million between 12:00 p.m. ET and 1:00 p.m. ET on April 17. This included approximately $8.4 million in long liquidations and $6.02 million in short liquidations, with total liquidations over the past 24 hours reaching a staggering $214.28 million across 67,301 traders, as per data from the crypto tracker CoinGlass.

Just a day earlier, on April 16, bitcoin reached a pinnacle of approximately $64,000 before beginning its descent.

The downward spiral in bitcoin's price was triggered by remarks from Jerome Powell, Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank, indicating that interest rates are unlikely to decrease in the near future. Powell's comments, made during a Washington forum on Tuesday, suggested that the U.S. central bank may not achieve its 2% inflation target anytime soon. Reuters quoted Powell stating, "Right now, given the strength of the labor market and progress on inflation so far, it's appropriate to allow restrictive policy further time to work and let the data and the evolving outlook guide us."

Meanwhile, the eagerly awaited bitcoin halving, scheduled for April 19, will see mining rewards slashed from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This marks the fourth such event in bitcoin's history, designed to regulate the token's supply and uphold its scarcity. Bitcoin halvings occur approximately every 210,000 blocks, which serve as sequential units of data recording transaction history within the blockchain network.

As of 1:34 p.m. ET on April 17, The Block's bitcoin halving countdown indicates that the next halving is a mere 336 blocks away, with the previous halving taking place on May 11, 2020.