Key Points:
Bitcoin miners sold $485 million worth of Bitcoin in the 12 days ending August 23.
Despite the selling by miners, the Bitcoin network's hash rate and fundamentals remain strong.
Bitcoin (BTC) returned to the $112,000 mark on Thursday, reversing a six-week low set two days prior. Despite the rebound, traders remain uneasy as Bitcoin (BTC) miners are selling off their holdings at the fastest pace in nine months. The question is whether this signals deeper risks or if other factors are driving the recent outflow of funds.
According to miner wallet data tracked by Glassnode, balances have been consistently decreasing from August 11 to August 23, with little sign of recovery since. The last sustained phase of daily withdrawals exceeding 500 BTC occurred on December 28, 2024, when Bitcoin (BTC) repeatedly failed to hold above $97,000.
In the latest round of selling, miners sold a total of 4,207 BTC, worth approximately $485 million, over the 12 days ending August 23. In contrast, during the accumulation phase from April to July, miners added 6,675 BTC to their reserves. Currently, miners hold a balance of 63,736 BTC, valued at over $7.1 billion.
While these outflows are relatively small compared to allocations by companies like Strategy (MSTR) and Metaplanet (MTPLF), they can easily trigger market speculation and FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt). If miners face tighter cash flows, selling pressure may intensify unless profitability improves.
According to HashRateIndex data, Bitcoin (BTC) prices have risen 18% over the past nine months, but miner profitability has declined by 10%. Rising mining difficulty and weakened on-chain transaction demand continue to compress profit margins. The Bitcoin (BTC) network is still self-adjusting to maintain an average block time of 10 minutes, but profitability pressures remain.
The Bitcoin hash rate price index is currently at 54 PH/s, down from 59 PH/s a month ago. Even so, miners have little reason to complain: this metric has significantly improved from March levels. According to NiceHash, even Bitmain's S19 XP devices from the end of 2022 remain profitable at $0.09 per kilowatt-hour.
Some investors' disappointment stems from the industry's shift towards artificial intelligence infrastructure. This trend has gained momentum following TeraWulf's (WULF) $3.2 billion agreement with Google for a 14% equity stake. The funds will be used to expand TeraWulf's AI data center campus in New York, which is set to begin operations in the second half of 2026.
In addition to TeraWulf, other mining companies are also accelerating their transformations. For example, the Australian company Iren (formerly Iris Energy) is speeding up the acquisition of Nvidia GPUs and building a liquid-cooled AI data center in Texas, while also constructing a new campus in British Columbia to accommodate 20,000 GPUs. Meanwhile, Hive (formerly Hive Blockchain) has committed $30 million to expand its GPU mining operations in Quebec.
Despite the ongoing interest in AI, market concerns about net outflows from miners or overall industry profitability have eased somewhat due to this strong performance. The fundamentals of Bitcoin (BTC) remain robust. The network's hash rate is nearing 960 million TH/s, a 7% increase over the past three months.
There is currently no evidence to suggest that miners are facing urgent liquidation pressures; even with continued selling, the inflow of corporate reserves is sufficient to offset its impact.
Related: Hedge fund Numerai secures $500 million funding commitment from JPMorgan, driving the cryptocurrency-AI fusion.
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