On January 17, the analytical platform CryptoQuant recorded the largest daily decline in miner inventories over the past year. Over the past 24 hours, the reserves of cryptocurrency miners have decreased by a total of 10,233 BTC ($450 million at the current rate).
Why did the miners sell so much?
Miners have two phases: accumulation and selling. According to Bitfinex, the last time they entered savings mode was around mid-2023, when prices and profitability were significantly lower than they are now.
Against the backdrop of rising costs and profitability, which has been observed in recent months, miners are moving to sell. For several days now, the Bitcoin rate has been fluctuating between $42 thousand and $43 thousand.
According to CoinGecko, at the time of writing, BTC is trading at $42,620. Over the past 24 hours, the price has increased by 0.2%.
Bitcoin miner stocks are at a minimum
CryptoQuant data also shows that Bitcoin miner holdings are currently at their lowest level since July 2021, at 1.83 million BTC ($78 billion).
Over the past year, BTC miner reserves have collectively dropped by 22,800 BTC ($979 million). Overall, however, the overall figure has remained stable since the start of 2021.
The decline is mainly driven by the record high hashrate, which indicates that more energy is required to process transactions and operate the network. According to Blockchain.com, the figure is now 519 EH/s.
Impact of Bitcoin Halving: Rising Costs and Reduced Rewards
Previously, CoinShares experts shared a study in which they analyzed the potential impact of halving on BTC miners. According to their estimates, the weighted average cost of Bitcoin mining and the monetary costs for this process will almost double, and the reward per block, on the contrary, will decrease.
At the moment, miners are already forced to spend too significant sums on commercial and administrative issues. It is likely that after halving many will have to work at a loss.
