3 reasons why Bitcoin miners are selling BTC — and why it’s not capitulation

Crypto analysts, traders and anonymous influencer Bitcoin pundits on X (formerly known as Twitter) frequently interpret what Bitcoin miners do with their block rewards as a sentiment gauge for where Bitcoin’s price might go. 

According to the theory, Bitcoin (

So, are Bitcoin analysts doing it all wrong?

When questioned on the accuracy and methodology of on-chain metrics like Charles Edward’s hash ribbons indicator, Khan quipped, “I think that the business of being an analyst is an extremely difficult one because, by definition, you’re probably wrong. Besides that, I think that historically, that might have been a good measure. Historically, when we were recognizing margins of 80%-plus, there wasn’t a need to sell. You didn’t need to monetize every Bitcoin that was produced.”

“I think as we look at most of the companies today, given our growth plans that we have, the only source of income that we have is the margins that we have by mining Bitcoin or raising incremental capital, and the capital markets we use to grow our businesses have been tight the last couple of years,” Khan added.

“Therefore, I think, at least for the publicly listed miners, looking at their Bitcoin selling strategies is not necessarily a direct indicator of capitulation or distress — it’s more of how does that fit into where they sit today and where their growth plans are for tomorrow and how does that meet their capital needs.”

Statements from Foundry vice president Kevin Zhong also aligned with the perspectives of the publicly listed miners at the WDMS.

“The ideal scenario is to rely on our hopium that Bitcoin does go up and that our woes go away on their own, it’s not guaranteed. The economic incentives of Bitcoin going alone may not be there or may come 6 months or 12 months after the halving. In that scenario, you’ve got to get really creative. What do we do with block space, how do we drive fees up. What other ways are there to subsidize ourselves and subsidize miners. You also have to be very critical and strategic with what you do with the Bitcoin that you mine. Are you hedging it out, are you doing covered calls? What are your treasury plans? If you have a bullish outlook on Bitcoin are you going to be liquidating all of it or holding on to some of it. It requires a lot of stratification and models, endless models.” 

To hear the full conversation on Bitcoin miners’ pivot to renewable energy, the growing synergy between energy producers and BTC miners and miners’ views on the upcoming halving check out the WDMS panel here.