Bitcoin Miners Prepare for Halving as $40 Billion Worth of BTC Sent to Exchanges in February
Date: 2024-03-01 Author: Dima Zakharov Categories: BLOCKCHAIN
Bitcoin Miners' Reserves Remain Stable
According to CryptoQuant data, Bitcoin miners' reserves remained stable in February, with $40 billion flowing from mining pools to crypto exchanges. As of February 28, miner wallet reserves stood at 1.828 million BTC, a negligible difference from the beginning of the month when reserves were at 1.827 million BTC.
Price Fluctuations Trigger Significant Sales
Despite maintaining reserve levels, recent BTC price fluctuations led to substantial miner sales. On February 26, over 40,000 BTC were sold as the cryptocurrency surpassed $52,000. Bitcoin's price surged by 22% over the past week, driven by inflows from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and anticipation of the upcoming halving.
Miners Prepare for Reduced Rewards
Historically, miners sell a significant portion of their BTC reserves before halving to maximize profits before block rewards decrease. The next Bitcoin halving is expected around April 19, 2024, reducing block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. However, mining costs remain unchanged or may increase as miners expand operations to stay profitable.
Mining Companies Adapt Strategies
Mining companies like CleanSpark are adapting strategies to cope with the upcoming halving. CleanSpark announced plans to establish an in-house trading department to manage and trade its Bitcoin assets independently. This approach aims to reduce trading-related expenses.
According to CoinShares asset manager analysis, CleanSpark, Riot, and TeraWulf are among the companies best positioned to navigate the halving. CoinShares predicts the average mining cost post-halving to be $37,856, urging miners to streamline operational expenses to remain profitable.
