According to a report from Odaily Planet Daily, listed bitcoin miners have reduced their combined holdings to 99,000 BTC from 127,000 BTC at the start of this year, selling 28,000 BTC worth approximately $1.78 billion. This represents roughly 22% of their initial holdings. The sell-off is considered an underestimated factor in bitcoin's weak price performance in 2026. Even though this selling volume is smaller than the $4.4 billion net outflow seen from ETFs, the marginal selling pressure still has a notable impact in a downtrend where buying interest is soft. Many mining companies are now facing squeezed profit margins, with an average production cost of about $74,300 per BTC. A growing number of these firms are also turning to artificial intelligence (AI) operations, utilizing their existing power capacity to support the transition. Meanwhile, bitcoin mining difficulty has fallen about 18% from its November peak, and the hash rate has recorded its longest consecutive decline on record.
Publicly traded bitcoin miners have been chipping away at their bitcoin reserves for months. Odaily Planet Daily says these companies were sitting on a combined 127,000 BTC at the start of 2026. Now? Just 99,000 BTC. So they have unloaded roughly 28,000 BTC this year, worth about $1.78 billion. That comes out to roughly 22% of what they held at the beginning.
That selling is widely seen as a factor the market has not fully priced into bitcoin's weak performance in 2026. Yes, the realized figure is smaller than the $4.4 billion in net outflows from exchange-traded funds. But in a downtrend, marginal selling bites harder when bids are thin. Soft demand. Thin support. Even a fairly small wave of supply can shove the market lower.
Mining economics are getting tighter for a lot of operators. The average cost to produce a single BTC is now about $74,300, which leaves many mining businesses with very little room for profit. So some of these firms are pivoting toward AI, putting their power capacity to work as part of that shift.
At the same time, bitcoin mining difficulty is down roughly 18% from its November peak. And hash rate has posted its longest uninterrupted decline ever recorded.
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