Bitcoin Miners Sold Almost Everything They Mined In 2022

Publicly traded Bitcoin miners sold almost all of the Bitcoin they mined in 2022, sparking a debate over whether the sales created a persistent headwind for the Bitcoin price.

Analyst Tom Dunleavy of blockchain research firm Messari shared the data in a Dec. 26 tweet, indicating that roughly 40,300 of the 40,700 BTC mined by Core Scientific, Riot, Bitfarms, Cleans Park, Marathon, Hut8, HIVE, Iris Energy, Argo, and Bit Digital between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30 were sold off.

Mining firms' reserves have declined substantially in the latter half of 2022, particularly all through November, as the crypto industry dealt with the fallout from the FTX.

Dunleavy believes that miners selling off newly produced Bitcoin on a regular basis puts downward pressure on the value of the leading cryptocurrency.

However, some industry observers, such as BitMEX's former CEO, Arthur Hayes, believe that the increased sales of Bitcoin miners create negligible selling pressure.

According to Bitcoin Visuals, the daily trading volume for Bitcoin on December 26 was $12.2 billion, while the outflow from miners on the same day was 919 BTC ($15.35 million), representing only 0.13% of the total volume traded.

Miners' reserves increased by nearly 1% in December, indicating a slight recovery. The figure supports the view expressed by crypto analyst IT Tech in a Dec. 27 post that the situation for miners appears to be stabilizing.

In a blog post published on December 9, he stated, "even if miners sold all of the Bitcoin they generated each day, it would barely impact the markets at all.”

Miners have faced serious headwinds this year, with high electricity prices, falling crypto market prices, and increased mining difficulty eroding their profits.

With the cost of production for miners rising while the Bitcoin price falls, miners like Core Scientific have been compelled to sell some of their reserves at a loss in order to fund their ongoing operations and expansion efforts.

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