Bitcoin Miners Dump Reserves En Masse, Industry Transformation Imminent

Since October 2025, multiple publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies have cumulatively sold over 15,000 BTC. This concentrated five-month period of reduction surpasses typical market adjustments, reflecting deep structural pressures within the industry. February 2026 marked the most intense month for selling, with approximately 6,100 BTC released, a new high for the period. Cango (CANG) sold 4,451 BTC in a single transaction, accounting for 60% of its total reserves. Bitdeer (BTDR) completely liquidated all of its Bitcoin assets in early 2026. Core Scientific (CORZ), which once held nearly 9,618 BTC, had only about 630 BTC remaining by March 2026, raising $175 million through reserve sales. Riot Platforms (RIOT) even sold four times its monthly production in December 2025, solely to maintain operations and cover acquisition expenses. Even MARA Holdings, the largest Bitcoin holder in the industry, quietly adjusted its treasury policy in March 2026, allowing for flexible Bitcoin sales based on market conditions for the first time. This shift is significant for companies that have long adhered to a "long-term holding" strategy. The core of the industry's predicament lies in the sharp decline in revenue. The price of Bitcoin has fallen from a high of approximately $126,000 in October 2025, coupled with a continuous increase in network hashrate and a 70% plunge in transaction fee revenue (from May 2025 to January 2026), leading to a drop in miners' daily revenue per petahash to below $30. Many companies are nearing the break-even point. The industry widely refers to this as the "most severe profit margin squeeze in history." With rigid energy costs and continuously shrinking revenue, selling reserves is no longer a strategic choice but a necessity for survival. At the same time, some mining companies are accelerating their transformation. Bitfarms has been renamed Keel Infrastructure, and Core Scientific is also shifting its capital to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing data centers. The operating profit margins of these new businesses can be as high as 80% to 90%, far exceeding the increasingly thin profit margins of Bitcoin mining.

The mining facilities, power agreements, and hardware assets built during the previous bull market cycle are being reconfigured rather than directly scrapped. Bitcoin reserves are transforming from mere digital assets into the startup capital supporting new businesses. In the short term, the fate of companies still committed to mining depends on Bitcoin's price movement. Analysts generally regard $72,000 as a key resistance level. If the price continues to remain below this level, selling pressure may be difficult to alleviate. Technically, the bearish flag pattern has not been effectively broken. However, some on-chain indicators may provide supporting evidence—Glassnode's Hash Ribbon indicator has repeatedly issued bottoming signals after extreme market sentiment, and current data is approaching a historical inflection point.