Hodling Strong: Top 5 BTC Miners Remain Undeterred by Bitcoin Halving

Despite the upcoming Bitcoin halving, the five largest Bitcoin mining firms are holding onto their Bitcoin and not selling it. According to a report by Bitwise, these mining firms sold only about 2,000 BTC in the first quarter of 2024, which is the lowest amount in two years. In comparison, they sold over 7,000 BTC in the previous quarter of 2023. This decrease in selling comes just days before the Bitcoin halving, which will reduce the rewards for mining a block from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This, coupled with the increasing hash rate, may impact the profitability of mining firms.

Despite potential challenges, Bitcoin miner revenue actually showed a 30% increase in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter, reaching over $4.5 billion. The CEO of Acheron Trading, Laurent Benayoun, has suggested that the decrease in mining rewards will be offset by an increase in network fees, so miners may not necessarily be worse off in terms of U.S. dollar revenue.

Historically, though, Bitcoin mining revenue has declined following halvings. After the 2020 halving, mining revenue dropped by 40% in the following month, and after the 2016 halving, revenue decreased by over 51%. Marathon Digital, one of the top five mining firms, mined the most Bitcoin in the first quarter of 2024, generating over 2,500 BTC. Their mining costs were also the highest, averaging $22,249 per BTC. In comparison, Cipher Mining had an average cost of $8,626 per BTC in the same period.

It is worth noting that Bitcoin miners globally currently hold over 700,000 BTC, which makes up 3.4% of the total Bitcoin supply. The majority of the Bitcoin supply (12 million or 57%) is held by individuals, according to Bitwise’s report.