Bitcoin (BTC) miners publicly listed on exchanges have sold nearly their entire mined BTC in 2022, sparking discussion on the gains for Bitcoin prices previously stated in media reports.
According to Tom Dunleavy, an analyst for Messari, a blockchain research company, cryptocurrency miners sold roughly 40,300 out of 40,700 BTC mined in the crypto space.
Involved crypto miners include Riot, Core Scientific, Marathon, Hive, Bit Digital, and others, with transactions taking place from 1 January to 30 November this year.
This has significantly lowered reserves in the second half of the year, with lows peaking in November due to the ongoing FTX collapse. This has caused Bitcoin prices to slump, Dunleavy added.
Despite this, numerous reports have evidenced Dunleavy’s claims, with Bitcoin Visuals noting on 26 December that Bitcoin’s daily trade volumes topped $12.2 billion. Conversely, CryptoQuaint figures showed outflows reached $15.35 million the same period, or 0.13 percent of total trading volumes.
December saw miner reserves recover by roughly 1 percent despite ongoing challenges such as skyrocketing electricity costs, a turbulent crypto market, several collapsed cryptocurrency platforms such as FTX, and increasing difficulty mining digital coins.
Core Scientific Sell-Off
The news comes after numerous mining firms were forced to sell reserves for their operations and expansion plans, namely due to declining hash rates, reports have shown.
Core Scientific, one of the biggest firms to date, sold 9,618 in Bitcoin in April 2022 to cover the costs of plummeting revenues.
It reportedly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy despite efforts to bail out the embattled company. While facing its earnings crisis, it stated it would continue cryptocurrency mining operations.
B Riley proposed a $72 million non-cash lifeline as Core Scientific nosedived from $4.3 billion USD in July 2021 to $78 million as of December.
