An interesting trend has emerged as miners have shifted their focus from accumulation to sales. Typically, such a shift occurs during periods of increasing cryptocurrency prices. Bitfinex has reported that miners started accumulating Bitcoin back in mid-2023 when the prices and profitability were considerably lower. Presently, the price of BTC stands slightly above $42,000.
The reserve of miners is estimated to be around 1.83 million coins which amounts to a staggering $78 billion. Such a substantial reserve has the potential to impact the future valuation of the first-ever cryptocurrency. During the previous year, miner reserves witnessed a decline of 22,800 BTC, as reported by CryptoQuant. However, the overall reserve ratio has remained relatively stable since the beginning of 2021.
In a preceding event, the hashrate of Bitcoin experienced a sharp decline of 35%. This can be attributed to the shutdown of mining equipment in the state of Texas, USA. The extreme cold weather conditions resulted in a significant surge in energy consumption, necessitating the temporary halt in mining operations. By January 13th, the network hashrate of the leading cryptocurrency had reached 670 EH/s, but it plummeted to 402 EH/s by the middle of the week.
CoinShares, an esteemed investment firm, has recently released a comprehensive report on Bitcoin mining, where they predict a rise in the average cost of mining one BTC after the halving event. The company asserts that the average cost of producing one Bitcoin will amount to $37,856. Moreover, they warn that if the price of BTC drops below $40,000, only a limited group of miners will be able to sustain their operations and remain profitable.