#ActiveUserImpact The crypto winter seems to have come to an end in 2024. The threats of strict control or even prohibition of mining activities in the United States, Russia, and several countries in Europe, along with the declines in Wall Street for technology companies, global economic instability, and the bankruptcy of FTX (with a 25-year prison sentence for Sam Bankman-Fried included) have affected this market, but not enough to paralyze it or dissuade its users. So much so that its leading representative, Bitcoin, recorded another new high in March 2023, and its value approached 74,000 US dollars in the mentioned month. Additionally, April promises to be an intense month, as this cryptocurrency will face its fourth halving. This event could have a strong impact on the price and a decrease in the creation of new coins, as the reward obtained by miners will be cut in half (which will drop to 3.125 bitcoins per block). In order to gain a better understanding of this phenomenon, the following article analyzes the origin and functioning of cryptocurrencies, as well as explains their main drawbacks.