Bitcoin miners’ reserves have seen a steady decline over the past few months since the halving event in April. The latest figures indicate a massive decline to 3-year lows, signaling intense selling pressure from miners amidst fluctuating BTC prices and market volatility.
Bitcoin Miner Holdings Drop To New Lows
Before the Bitcoin halving event on April 20, market experts foresaw potential challenges for Bitcoin miners as block rewards become reduced by half. This prediction is showing true, as BTC miner holdings have witnessed a severe decline over the past few months.
According to the on-chain analytics platform CryptoQuant, Bitcoin miners’ reserves have fallen from 1.84 million BTC in the previous year to about 1.80 million BTC presently. This drop suggests that BTC miner holdings are currently at their lowest levels since Bitcoin’s Satoshi era days, which was approximately 14 years ago.
CryptoQuant also disclosed that BTC miner reserves are down 50% from previous highs, indicating an increased selling volume from miners. This selling pressure is likely induced by the increased mining operational costs as investors continue selling off their Bitcoin holdings to acquire better mining equipment to remain financially stable.
The cost of BTC mining is escalating as electricity prices rise and mining rewards reduce. The need for more efficient hardware has also become increasingly urgent in order to keep up with the complexities associated with BTC mining.
Moreover, Bloomberg reported that BTC miners stand to lose $10 billion in revenue annually, spurred on by the far-reaching effects of the Bitcoin halving cycle. This pessimistic outlook is also magnified as BTC mining hash rates reach 3-year lows after witnessing its largest crash since 2021.
Excluding miner reserves, the price of Bitcoin witnessed massive declines after the halving event in April. At the time, its trading volume plummeted significantly, suggesting a decline in investor demand and interest in the cryptocurrency.
Currently, BTC seems to be steadily approaching its all-time high, surging past the $71,000 mark earlier this week. The unexpected momentum has been partly attributed to the increased inflows from investors into Spot Bitcoin ETFs. The approval of Ethereum Spot ETFs has also had a positive impact on the price of BTC, indicating investors increasing interest in the cryptocurrency.
BTC Miners Turn To AI
Amidst Bitcoin miners dwindling reserves, many are now turning to Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a way to generate more revenue. Recently Core Scientific, a BTC mining titan, announced a 12-year collaboration with Core Weave, a specialized cloud provider and AI hyperscaler.
Core Scientific has revealed plans to support CoreWeave, expanding the relationship between the two companies in the hopes of generating more than $3.5 million in revenue over the next 12 years.