Miner selling has climbed six-fold since the May 11 halving, while exchange reserves hit their lowest point in over 18 months. Mining pools have dumped 7,426 bitcoins in the past five days, marking a
Miner selling has climbed six-fold since the May 11 halving, while exchange reserves hit their lowest point in over 18 months. Mining pools have dumped 7,426 bitcoins in the past five days, marking a 600% surge in outflows compared to the pre-halving period. That pace exceeds the 1,066 bitcoins miners unloaded in the first hours after the halving. This wave of selling continues despite Bitcoin's price sitting around $9,500.
Miners face mounting pressure to increase sales after their reward per block halved from 12.5 to 6.25 bitcoins. To offset lower per-block revenue, they raise volume. Before the halving, when Bitcoin topped $10,000, miners were moving 5,000 bitcoins daily compared to around 2,100 bitcoins at slower times.
The week before the May 11 event, miners dumped enough bitcoin to crash the price by $1,200, dragging it down from highs near $10,000. The market has continued sliding since then, with Bitcoin falling from $9,966 to lows around $9,355 in recent days.
This miner selling coincides with a separate but equally significant trend: holders are pulling bitcoin off exchanges at a pace not seen in over a year and a half.
Last week, $220 million in bitcoin exited centralized exchanges following the halving. Data from Glassnode showed that 24,000 bitcoins moved off exchanges between May 12 and May 15 alone. Before that withdrawal, exchanges held about 2.3 million bitcoins worth $21.7 billion. The total has now compressed to 1.18 million bitcoins across the 17 largest exchanges, representing about $11 billion in value.
The squeeze on exchange reserves started in March, when Bitcoin tumbled to its lowest price since 2018. Reserves have fallen since then. Miners are selling coins while holders remove them from exchanges. These opposite flows create competing pressures. Miners must liquidate. Holders want protection.
