Public bitcoin miners add $1.78 billion of selling pressure as margins squeeze

Publicly listed bitcoin miners have sold 28,000 BTC worth $1.78 billion this year, adding an overlooked supply overhang to a market already absorbing record ETF outflows.

Publicly listed bitcoin miners have sold 28,000 BTC worth $1.78 billion since January, adding an overlooked supply overhang as bitcoin trades near $63,700, down 27 percent this year.

Blockware Intelligence data shows the firms' combined holdings fell to 99,000 BTC from 127,000 BTC at the start of the year. "Early year sales from public miners are an underdiscussed contributing factor in bitcoin's poor price performance in 2026," the research division of Blockware Solutions said in its latest newsletter.

The $1.78 billion is smaller than the $4.4 billion of net outflows from U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs, according to SoSoValue. But in financial markets, price is set at the margin — the most recent buyers and sellers, not cumulative volume, determine where the price goes. In a downtrend with weak buying interest, even modest and steady selling can have an outsized impact.

Many operators face squeezed margins, with the average cost to produce one bitcoin at $74,300, above the spot price. In response, a growing number are pivoting into AI and using their secured high-voltage electrical capacity to support that shift. Mining difficulty has fallen about 18 percent from its November peak, and network hashrate slid to roughly 868 EH/s by July 29, according to Crypto Briefing.

Miner capitulation eases competition for those who remain

The exodus and AI pivot of several large miners has eased competition, making BTC cheaper to mine and boosting rewards for those still in the game. "The rest of the miners are earning about 18 percent more bitcoin now than they were 10 months ago," Blockware said. "The exodus of the largest players in the industry is improving the economics for the miners that remain."

Public mining companies including Hut 8, Core Scientific, and TeraWulf sold over 32,000 BTC in the first quarter of 2026 alone just to keep the lights on, according to Crypto Briefing. These are infrastructure-heavy businesses making calculated decisions that their operating costs exceed their revenue at current bitcoin prices. Core Scientific has been among the most aggressive in converting capacity toward AI hosting.

A slow squeeze, not a sudden crackdown

The difficulty decline — from roughly 155.97 trillion to 126.23 trillion as of the July 25 adjustment — marks only the second time in bitcoin's history that mining difficulty has dipped below where it stood a year earlier. The first was the 2021 China ban, which wiped out roughly half of the network's hashrate almost overnight before it recovered within about six months.

This time, the decline is not driven by a single regulatory shock but by sustained economic pressure. Sub-$65,000 bitcoin combined with post-halving economics — the April 2024 halving slashed block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC — has created a slow squeeze rather than a sudden crackdown.

For bitcoin as a protocol, declining difficulty is the system working as designed: the adjustment mechanism ensures blocks keep getting produced roughly every ten minutes. For investors, the 28,000 BTC sold by public miners represents a supply overhang the market has already had to absorb. If miners exhaust their selling inventory, that could mark a supply-side exhaustion point that removes a headwind for future price appreciation. A sustained move above $65,000 could stabilize remaining operations and slow the exodus.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.