Listed bitcoin (BTC) mining companies put more bitcoin on the market in the first quarter of 2026 than they did in all of last year. That exceeded the total volume sold across all 4 quarters of 2025.

Cointelegraph reported on April 16 that listed miners including Mara Holdings, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer sold more than 32,000 BTC in the first quarter alone. TheEnergyMag said the first-quarter sales also exceeded the 20,000 BTC sold in the second quarter of 2022, when a bear market persisted after the Terra-Luna collapse, marking a new record for a single quarter.

The sales come as mining profitability has deteriorated sharply. Hashrate Index data show hashprice, a measure used to gauge mining profitability, has now fallen below $35 per PH/s per day. The $35 level is seen as a break-even point for many miners, and at about $33 roughly 20 percent of the industry is in unprofitable territory, led by operators using older equipment.

The mining industry is under pressure as competition intensifies amid rising network hashrate, block rewards shrink and macroeconomic burdens mount. Some companies are being pushed beyond routine selling to cover operating costs, to selling bitcoin they had held for corporate treasury purposes.

Miners' holdings are also declining. CryptoQuant data show the Bitcoin Miner Reserve, which tracks total industry bitcoin holdings, topped 1,860,000 BTC at the end of 2023 but has fallen to about 1,800,000 BTC. Miners often sell part of their output to cover costs, but the recent combination of weak crypto prices and rising energy costs has increased selling pressure.

CoinShares said in its first-quarter 2026 bitcoin mining report that if bitcoin prices do not recover clearly, further capitulation by high-cost operators is likely through the first half of 2026. Not every company in the industry is taking the same approach. Miners are split between those liquidating holdings to cover operating costs and those accumulating bitcoin to use as funding for future growth.

By contrast, bitcoin treasury strategy companies are continuing to buy. Strategy, for example, signaled additional purchases even as bitcoin prices rose above $73,000 during the week and then entered a pullback. Michael Saylor (마이클 세일러), Strategy's chairman, shared a chart of the company's bitcoin purchase history last Sunday and urged people to "paint a bigger picture."

The trend shows responses are diverging within the mining industry depending on business structures. Miners facing lower profitability are holding out by selling holdings, while companies that have accumulated bitcoin as a treasury asset see pullbacks as buying opportunities. The key focus ahead is whether bitcoin prices recover and how long hashprice remains below break-even levels.