Core

2026

Bitcoin

Publicly traded Bitcoin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/price-indexes/bitcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>) mining companies sold more BTC in Q1 2026 than in all four quarters of 2025, as business conditions tighten for the mining industry.&nbsp;
Publicly listed BTC miners, including MARA, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer, have <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-miners-unwind-btc-treasuries-margin-pressure" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">collectively sold more than 32,000 BTC</a> in Q1 2026, <a href="https://theenergymag.com/news/2026-04-16/public-miner-sell-record-bitcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">according</a> to TheEnergyMag.
The Q1 sales surpassed the 20,000 BTC sold in Q2 2022 during the crypto bear market triggered by the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/features/how-terra-s-collapse-will-impact-future-stablecoin-regulations" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem</a>, setting a “new record” for BTC miner sales in a single quarter, TheMinerMag said.&nbsp;
<figure><img alt="Mining, Bitcoin Mining" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d977a-d7a9-73f6-a125-1c09a24a10b3.png">
 <figcaption>Quarterly BTC liquidations by publicly traded Bitcoin mining companies, Q1 2022-Q1 2026. Source: <a href="https://theenergymag.com/news/2026-04-16/public-miner-sell-record-bitcoin" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">TheEnergyMag</a>
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The sales come as hashprice, that is, the computing cost and a critical metric for miner profitability, sits at record low levels under $35 per petahash/second per day (PH/s), according to <a href="https://data.hashrateindex.com/network-data/bitcoin-hashprice-index" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">data</a> from Hashrate Index.
That $35 PH/s level is the breakeven for many Bitcoin miners, particularly those running older mining machines, and the current hashprice of about $33 PH/s per day places about <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-mining-squeeze-narrows-field-of-viable-operators-coinshares" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">20% of the mining industry</a> in unprofitable territory.&nbsp;
<figure><img alt="Mining, Bitcoin Mining" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d977c-6e07-71c0-aa51-e7b6d23b80b0.png">
 <figcaption>Hashprice for BTC miners has been declining since July 2025 and now sits at about $33 PH/s per day. Source: <a href="https://data.hashrateindex.com/network-data/bitcoin-hashprice-index" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Hashrate Index</a>
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The heavy BTC sales come as the mining industry struggles with increased competition <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-mining-easier-not-long-hashrate-roars-back" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">represented by a rising hashrate</a>, the total computing power expended by miners to secure the network, reduced block rewards and macroeconomic headwinds.&nbsp;
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-2028-halving-hits-the-halfway-point" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin miners face a tougher road to the 2028 halving</a>
<h2 id="btc-held-by-miners-has-been-declining-long-term-while-treasury-companies-pour-in">BTC held by miners has been declining long-term while treasury companies pour in</h2>
The Bitcoin Miner Reserve, a metric tracking all the BTC held by miners, has been gradually decreasing since 2023, according to <a href="https://cryptoquant.com/asset/btc/chart/miner-flows/miner-reserve?miner=all_miner&amp;window=DAY&amp;priceScale=log&amp;metricScale=linear&amp;chartStyle=line&amp;sma=0&amp;ema=0" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CryptoQuant</a>.
Bitcoin miners collectively held over 1.86 million BTC at the end of 2023, but only hold about 1.8 million BTC at the time of publication.
<figure><img alt="Mining, Bitcoin Mining" src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2026-04/019d977e-ce7e-7026-a9fb-28b84b297efb.png">
 <figcaption>The total number of BTC held by Bitcoin miners has been gradually declining since 2023. Source: <a href="https://cryptoquant.com/asset/btc/chart/miner-flows/miner-reserve?miner=all_miner&amp;window=DAY&amp;priceScale=log&amp;metricScale=linear&amp;chartStyle=line&amp;sma=0&amp;ema=0" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CryptoQuant</a>
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Miners periodically sell portions of their BTC to cover operating expenses, but a combination of lower crypto prices and rising energy costs has forced some miners to offload coins they would have held in their corporate treasuries.
“We expect further capitulation among higher-cost operators in H1 2026 unless BTC’s price recovers materially,” asset manager CoinShares said in its Q1 2026 Bitcoin Mining <a href="https://coinshares.com/corp/insights/research-data/bitcoin-mining-report-q1-2026/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Report</a>.
Standing in sharp contrast to the miners’ selling are Bitcoin treasury companies, like Strategy, which has been a regular buyer of the biggest crypto.
Michael Saylor, the co-founder of the biggest Bitcoin treasury company, earlier this week signaled that <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/strategy-saylor-signal-bitcoin-purchase" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Strategy is acquiring more BTC</a>, as the price retreated from the local high of over $73,000 reached this week.
“Think bigger,” Saylor&nbsp;<a href="https://x.com/saylor/status/2043296752334168076" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">said</a>&nbsp;on Sunday, while sharing the chart of Strategy’s BTC purchase history that has become synonymous with imminent BTC acquisitions.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph-magazine.com/bitcoin-mining-industry-dead-2-years-halving-bit-digital-ceo/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin mining industry ‘going to be dead in 2 years’: Bit Digital CEO</a>

Public crypto miners sold more BTC in Q1 2026 than all of 2025: Report

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