Just-In: ‪Bitcoin Miners Are On Accumulation Spree Amid Crypto Crash Concerns

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Bitcoin miners are among the most bullish Bitcoin holders in the market. Most public Bitcoin miners are not selling their mined Bitcoin according to a report by Arcane Research.

Miners aiming to become Bitcoin investment vehicles by holding

The crypto and digital assets analysis and research service provider explained the rationale behind the miners’ for their accumulation strategy. This is mostly because the publicly listed miners want their stock to be closely correlated with the price of Bitcoin.

In the long run, a greater correlation with the benchmark crypto would attract investors looking for indirect Bitcoin exposure.

 Bitcoin mining companies aim to serve as bitcoin investment vehicles, helping to give investors bitcoin exposure without holding the asset directly. Therefore, they intend to build up bitcoin treasuries to be more correlated with the bitcoin price,  the report said.

Marathon has built the largest Bitcoin reserve among the top 10 publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies. Marathon presently holds 8,956 BTC according to its public filings. Half of the amount is self-mined, with around 4813 BTC having been added through purchases in January 2021.

Marathon is followed by Core Scientific, Hut 8, and Riot, which hold 7,355 BTC, 6,115 BTC, and 5783 BTC respectively. Arcane also noted that there are six Bitcoin miners among the top 10 publicly listed institutions that hold Bitcoin on their balance sheet. Marathon is only surpassed by MicroStrategy and Telsa per data from Bitcoin Treasuries.

Beyond holding: Miners are expanding their operations

Arcane also found that the publicly listed mining companies are deploying funds to increase their hashrate. Several of them, including Core Scientific and Marathon, have secured the funds for their expansion by tapping into public markets and debt financing.

Marathon plans to be the fastest-growing by increasing its hashrate by 500% before the end of the year. Similarly, Core Scientific is targeting a 150% increase, with others also having ambitious targets.

Since these firms majorly operate in the US and Canada, their push for growth is likely to have the unwitting effect of driving up North America’s already sizable contribution to the hashrate of Bitcoin.