Bitcoin (BTC) Miners Goes on Selling Spree as Price Consolidates

As the price of Bitcoin consolidates around $52,000, Bitcoin miners have resumed their selling spree.

Depletion of Bitcoin Miner’s Reserve

Data from the crypto analytics platform CryptoQuant shows that over the last ten days, Bitcoin miners have taken advantage of the upshot in the price of the flagship cryptocurrency.

Over the past ten days, #Bitcoin miners have capitalized on the #BTC price surge from $45,000 to over $52,000 by selling approximately 6,329 $BTC, valued at around $307 million! pic.twitter.com/vthHHJMauZ

— Ali (@ali_charts) February 18, 2024

In less than two weeks, the price of BTC has climbed from about $45,000 to its current price of $51,904.95 following a 2.21% surge in the last 24 hours. Miner’s reserve is gradually reducing, suggesting these entities are rolling out their holdings.

From February 8, when the miner’s reserve was the highest for the month, to February 18, approximately 6,329 Bitcoins have been sold. According to the current market value of the coin, the sold stash is worth more than $300 million. The selling trend has been ongoing for a while and the reserve is gradually getting depleted.

In January, 10,600 BTC units estimated to be worth $455.8 million in value, were offloaded by miners. The move was tagged a dynamic market response to the sudden drop in the BTC hashrate at the time, thereby impacting miner profitability. 

Then again in February, the Bitcoin miner’s reserve experienced a two-day intense depletion. About $600 million worth of Bitcoin was sold, and it turned out to be the lowest that the reserve had dropped since July 2021. These miners may be selling off their stash to offset mining bills but such moves seem unhealthy for traders in the market.

Impact of Spot BTC ETF and Halving

The ongoing selloff from BTC miners is likely to trigger a drop in the price of the coin as investors may feel jittery about what these network validators are thinking about Bitcoin. However, Bitcoin price could also continue with its present positive momentum, driven by a number of factors including the spot Bitcoin ETF and the upcoming halving event. 

Several market analysts and experts are already very optimistic about how high the price of Bitcoin will reach before the halving event and even after. Bitcoin HODL, a prominent crypto analyst on X, predicted an equilibrium price of $301,709 for Bitcoin before halving and $603,418 after halving.

Based on this projection, the action of miners, while it might trigger a temporary slump in BTC price, may not affect the coin so much in the long run.