Bitcoin miners are selling on crisis concerns The musician bet $395,000 on the Rams catcher. Odell Beckham Jr., will have "more than 0.5 touchdowns at any time"

A metric tracking bitcoin miner holdings turned negative on Feb. 5 for the first time since mid-November, according to crypto analytics platform Glassnode. The twist in the metric, or the net change in miner balances over a 30-day window, shows that they have sold their cryptocurrencies in a possible sign that a number of less efficient operators are coming soon.

A metric tracking bitcoin miner holdings turned negative on Feb. 5 for the first time since mid-November, according to crypto analytics platform Glassnode. The turnaround in the metric, or the net change in miner balances over a 30-day window, shows that they have sold their cryptocurrencies in a possible sign that a number of less efficient operators are coming soon.

Miners increased their reserves for months, even as prices fell to $35,000, according to research firm Delphi Digital. But with Bitcoin persistently down 35% from a November high, miners with expensive operations are feeling pressure to care for their cash balances while also investing in more powerful equipment.

Shares of the largest miners are recovering from recent sell-off lows. Marathon Digital Holdings Inc., Riot Blockchain Inc., Stronghold Digital Mining Inc. and Hut 8 Mining Corp. are all up more than 40% from January lows. But those with smaller operations could be selling strategically.

Marathon and Hut 8 told Bloomberg that they remained “hodlers” during the recent crisis (a term that in crypto parlance means “hold”). “We started holding in October 2020 and since then we haven't sold a single satoshi,” said Charlie Schumacher, a spokesperson for Marathon Digital. A satoshi, a term derived from the name of the alleged creator of bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, refers to a percentage of a currency.

Likewise, Sue Ennis, head of investor relations at Hut 8 Mining, said: “We believe in bitcoin. Some miners sell bitcoin or use it to pay expenses. We hold our bitcoin.”

Bitcoin miners have pledged to grow, promising to buy more mining rigs and increase the rate at which they can mint bitcoin. But given the behavior of the stock and crypto markets, there is a “small margin of error” in terms of execution this year relative to 2021, said Lucas Pipes, an analyst at B. Riley.

“The machines became much more expensive. If you promised to rise to a certain level, it will cost you 20% to 30% more to get to that point,” he said, referring to bitcoin's processing rate.

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