The five largest Bitcoin mining firms are not selling Bitcoin (BTC), despite the 50% supply issuance reduction of the upcoming Bitcoin halving.
Bitcoin selling by the top five mining firms slowed to a two-year low in the first quarter of 2024, when the five largest miners sold a total of approximately 2,000 BTC, according to an April 10 report by Bitwise.
The last time the top five mining firms sold less than 2,000 BTC was in the first quarter of 2022. In comparison, the five largest mining firms sold over 7,000 BTC in the fourth quarter of 2023.
The report comes days before the 2024 Bitcoin halving, which is set to reduce Bitcoin block issuance rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC per mined block.
Paired with a continually increasing Bitcoin hash rate, the profitability of mining firms could take a hit after the halving.
Despite a gloomy outlook for some miners, Bitcoin miner revenue saw a 30% increase quarter-over-quarter, tripling the recent lows form the fourth quarter of 2022. Bitcoin miner revenue rose above $4.5 billion according to Bitwise.
Despite the upcoming block reward halving, Bitcoin mining revenue won’t necessarily fall in U.S. dollar terms, according to Laurent Benayoun, the CEO of Acheron Trading:
“In dollar terms, it’s not obvious that miners would be worse off after the halving, quite the opposite […] The decrease in mining rewards is going to be compensated by an increase in network fees.”
Yet, Bitcoin miner revenue has historically declined in the months after Bitcoin halvings. Post-halving Bitcoin mining revenue declined 40% in the month after the 2020 halving, while monthly revenue declined over 51% after the 2016 Bitcoin halving.
Related: Is the Bitcoin halving the right time to invest in BTC?
Out of the top five mining firms, Marathon Digital mined the most Bitcoin, with over 2,500 BTC generated in the first quarter of 2024, down from over 4,000 BTC in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Yet, Marathon Digital also averaged the highest mining cost of $22,249 per BTC, compared to Cipher Mining’s average cost of only $8,626 per BTC during the first quarter of the year. In comparison, Bitcoin’s average price stood at $53,534 during the first quarter of 2024.
Bitcoin miners worldwide currently hold over 700,000 BTC, which accounts for 3.4% of the total Bitcoin supply. The majority, or 57% (12 million) of Bitcoin supply, is held by individuals, according to Bitwise.
Related: Bitcoin supply to run out on exchanges in 9 months — Bybit