With the highly anticipated Bitcoin halving event looming just a few days away, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase has launched a new commercial to stoke the fires of excitement. This isn't just any commercial, though – it's a clever and nostalgic reminder of Bitcoin's remarkable journey, measured not in traditional financial terms, but in everyone's favorite comfort food: pizza.

The ad, poignantly titled "Over Time, Your Money Gets You Less. Does Bitcoin?" takes viewers on a trip down memory lane, specifically to the year 2010. Back then, in a now-legendary transaction that cemented itself in Bitcoin lore, Laszlo Hanyecz, a true early adopter, famously spent a staggering 10,000 Bitcoins to purchase two pizzas. Fast forward just two years, and the landscape had shifted dramatically. By 2012, a single Bitcoin could fetch you a delicious pizza, a stark contrast to the meager two-pizza haul of 2010. And then came 2020, where the narrative flipped entirely – Bitcoin had ascended to dizzying heights, with a single coin commanding a value of thousands of dollars.

Coinbase, with a masterstroke of simplicity, uses this historical perspective to highlight the core principle behind the upcoming halving: scarcity. "Roughly every four years," the ad's narrator explains, "the future supply of Bitcoin is reduced." This reduction, technically known as the "halving," refers to the event where the rate at which new Bitcoins are created is cut in half. Every 210,000 blocks mined, the Bitcoin network undergoes this pre-programmed halving. The upcoming event, slated for block 840,000, will see the block subsidy slashed from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.

This halving, in essence, acts as a built-in mechanism to control inflation. By deliberately limiting the future supply of Bitcoins, the network aims to achieve a level of scarcity that rivals, and even surpasses, that of gold – a traditional safe-haven asset prized for its limited availability. Proponents often compare Bitcoin to gold, and the halving further strengthens this connection by creating a demonstrably finite supply.

Historically, the halving event has been followed by a period of significant price appreciation for Bitcoin, typically occurring 12 to 18 months after the halving itself. This price surge is believed to be a consequence of the reduced supply, creating a situation of classic economic principles – lower supply meeting the same or even higher demand, leading to a potential increase in price.

Interestingly, even Bitcoin miners, the individuals who power the network by validating transactions and receiving block rewards in the form of new Bitcoins, are exhibiting bullish sentiment despite the immediate reduction in their revenue. As an IREN spokesperson recently told Cryptonews, "The supply shock of the halving has historically been linked to exponential runs in the price of Bitcoin, which counteracts the impact on miner revenues."

It's worth noting that Coinbase isn't the only entity capitalizing on the hype surrounding the halving. Last week, a multinational bank, TD Bank, released its own commercial that specifically emphasized the supply crunch created by the halving event. Their ad highlighted the pre-determined limit of 21 million Bitcoins that can ever be created, and how the network releases this supply slowly over time.

This seemingly contradictory approach from Coinbase, which published a report in 2021 arguing that the halving's impact on price might be overstated compared to larger macroeconomic factors, could be interpreted as a strategic move to cater to the current market sentiment. Regardless, the message is clear – the Bitcoin halving is a significant event, and Coinbase, along with others, are determined to ensure that investors don't miss out.