BTC Miners Boost Sell Pressure

An increase in Bitcoin sell–off during the last two months depressed its market value.

The increase in bitcoin difficulty might have forced many miners to sell much BTC.

Due to the high selling pressure the Bitcoin price is below $27,000.

Keywords: bitcoin mining, BTC mining, BTC miners, mine BTC, buy BTC, bitcoin price

Introduction

The activity of Bitcoin miners has affected the price of the cryptocurrency. Often when miners offload their coins onto the market that may lead to a fall in its price. Recently, Bitcoin investors raised concern over the increase in the amount of BTC the miners are dumping on the market. This article looks at the impact of the recent mass sell-off by bitcoin miners.

Bitcoin Miners Increase the Quantity of BTC on the Market

The price of bitcoin has been rising since the beginning of the year despite challenges like the crypto crackdown in the United States. Nonetheless, the bitcoin price has failed to rise above $32,500 due to several factors which include the BTC miners’ mass dumping of the coin on the market.

Since June many Bitcoin miners have increased the quantities of BTC they offloaded to the exchanges leading to more selling pressure than before. According to Glassnode, the on-chain data analytics firm, many bitcoin mining firms have been sending large amounts of BTC to the exchanges.

Also, data on Glassnode indicates that the total amount of bitcoin that the miners brought to the exchanges reached a three year high on 3 June, a level that was last attained during the 2021 bull market.

This information is consistent with Coin Metrics data which indicates a sharp decline in one-hop supply metric of miners, which tracks the quantity of bitcoin stored in digital wallets that receive BTC from various mining pools. The metric shows an increase in miner bitcoin holdings since May this year. However, from the second week of June the number of bitcoin in miners’ wallets started decreasing.

As an example, the bitcoin miners off-loaded more than 14,000 BTC, worth about $41,2 million, to exchanges during a 24-hour period that stretched from 12 to 13 July. The increase in BTC selling pressure has been accompanied by low volatility within the last 40 days. During the greater part of that period the bitcoin price was hovering around $30,000.

Bitcoin Sell Pressure - CryptoQuant

As the above diagram indicates, there were more BTC sellers than buyers.

At that time Maartun commented “Sell Taker Volume is still significantly outperforming taker buyers. This is why the price is still suppressed below $30,000.” However, if the BTC price surpasses $32,000 the miners may stop selling their bitcoin holdings which could push its price up.

Effects of BTC ERFs Optimism on Bitcoin Price

Despite the recent large BTC sell off Glassnode reveals that there are many bitcoin investors who still hold large sums of the coin. In fact, it has indicated that long-term bitcoin holders have attained a new all-time-high of 14.59 million coins which accounts for about 75% of bitcoin’s circulating supply. This shows their willingness to hold BTC despite its short-term depressed market. The next graph shows the change in amount of BTC the long term investors have been accumulating this year.

Bitcoin Holding - Glassnode

As shown by the blue line graph in the diagram above, there has been an increase in the quantity of bitcoin that the long term investors hold.

Some analysts, however, believe that a strong catalyst like the approval of BTC ETFs may push its price above the $30,000 - $32,000 zone. In the past month, the price of bitcoin often retreated to $29,000 even if it had spiked for a short period.

According to the analysts most of these long term Bitcoin holders anticipate that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) may approve the bitcoin ETFs. Recently, the SEC received many applications for BTC ETFs from various reputable traditional finance institutions like BlackRock.

Nonetheless, the SEC has not commented on BTC ETFs. Instead it has opened a 21-day window to get the public’s views on them. Some key industry players like Ark Invest Cathie Wood and Galaxy Digital Mike Novogratz have, however, said they expect the SEC to approve them at any time.

Reasons for BTC Miners’ High Sell-off

There are several projected reasons why the top firms that mine BTC sell off their holdings in large quantities. The Bitcoin miners may have been selling the coins to take profit.

The BTC mining firms might have sold their holdings to cover up increasing operation costs that have emanated from the prolonged bear markets that started in 2022. Although the crypto market is trying to shake off the bear run, the prices of most cryptocurrencies including BTC remain depressed. They are nowhere near their all-time-highs, mostly recorded in 2021.

The miners may be selling their holdings as a result of the rise in bitcoin difficulty, a metric that measures the level of difficulty the miners encounter to find new blocks. A rise in bitcoin difficulty leads to a reduction in the earnings of the miners which may decrease their profits or even increase their losses. The decrease in revenue may force them to sell more bitcoin than before to meet their operating expenses.

The decrease in bitcoin ordinals activity may have forced the miners to sell more BTC. For much of the first half of the year the miners’ revenue was coming from BTC ordinals activity. Its decline in May could have forced firms that mine Bitcoin to sell off part of their holdings.

What would Happen if Bitcoin Miners Stop Massive Selling of BTC?

During the past few months the price of bitcoin has been fluctuating within a small channel, $27,000 to $31,500. However, currently the bitcoin price is below this range as it is trading at $26,095.

If the BTC miners reduce the amount of bitcoin it may lead to shortage in the market which is likely to push its price above $32,000. Nevertheless, there is no guarantee that its price will rise in the near future. As such, the investors should do their independent research and invest only the amount they can afford to lose.

It is also important to note that many investors buy BTC when its price is low to generate higher profits when its value rises.

Read also about Best Mining Software in 2023

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