Bitcoin Miners Sell Off Record Reserves Despite Price Surge

Bitcoin surged past $109,000 this week, hitting a new all-time high, but miners aren’t celebrating. According to TheMinerMag, public bitcoin miners offloaded 115% of their BTC production in April—selling more than they mined. This marks the highest sell ratio since the 2022 bear market, driven by tight margins and weak revenue despite rising prices.

Miners' profitability remains under strain. The current hashprice—earnings per petahash per second (PH/s)—is just $55, down from $63 when Bitcoin previously neared $100,000. Elevated mining difficulty and low transaction fees continue to squeeze revenue, forcing miners to liquidate reserves.

Still, major mining firms are scaling up. CleanSpark (CLSK) has surpassed 40 EH/s in hashrate, while IREN (IREN) saw a 25% jump, aiming for 50 EH/s by June. Cango (CANG) plans to add another 18 EH/s by July. MARA Holdings (MARA) leads with 57.3 EH/s installed, per a Jefferies report, which also noted IREN's uptime at 97%, followed by HIVE Digital (HIVE) at 96%.

Miners are also shifting strategies. Several companies have struck deals with Bitmain to buy mining rigs using BTC, with an option to repurchase their coins later at set prices—effectively hedging against further price surges.

Despite a rocky Q1, mining stocks rebounded sharply in April, with some gaining over 60%. However, most remain negative year-to-date, except for CleanSpark and MARA, which are currently in the green.

As Bitcoin continues to break records, the mining sector faces a paradox: booming asset prices but tightening profit margins, prompting aggressive expansion, strategic hedging, and continued reserve selling just to stay ahead.