The Q1 2026 total sets a new all-time high for quarterly miner liquidations.
Bitcoin News
Publicly listed Bitcoin miners sold more Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2026 than in the entire previous year. The total came to more than 32,000 Bitcoin, according to TheEnergyMag.
That figure exceeds the previous single-quarter record of 20,000 Bitcoin set in Q2 2022. That earlier record came during the bear market triggered by the collapse of the Terra-Luna ecosystem, according to TheMinerMag. The Q1 2026 total sets a new all-time high for quarterly miner liquidations.
Companies in the data include MARA, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer. Each of these firms trades publicly and discloses its Bitcoin holdings and sales on a regular basis.
Profitability across the sector has been under pressure for months. Hashprice, the metric that measures mining revenue per unit of computing power, has been falling since July 2025. It now sits at approximately $33 per petahash per second per day, according to Hashrate Index. The breakeven level for many miners running older machines is $35 PH/s per day. That gap places roughly 20% of the mining industry in unprofitable territory.
Several factors are compressing margins at the same time. Network hashrate has been rising, which increases competition among miners for the same block rewards. Block rewards themselves are lower following the most recent halving. Energy costs have risen for operators with less efficient infrastructure.
The total Bitcoin held by miners has been declining since 2023, according to CryptoQuant. Miners collectively held over 1.86 million Bitcoin at the end of that year. That figure has fallen to approximately 1.8 million Bitcoin as of publication.
"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 Report. The firm's outlook draws a clear line between miners selling to cover costs and those holding Bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset.
Strategy, the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, has been buying while miners sell. Co-founder Michael Saylor posted the company's Bitcoin purchase history chart on Sunday alongside the words "Think bigger." That combination has previously preceded confirmed acquisitions. Bitcoin had pulled back from a local high above $73,000 earlier this week at the time of the post.
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