- The total supply in miner addresses ripped to a monthly high of 1.82 million.
- Miner revenues have gone downhill since the BRC-20 frenzy in early May.
Bitcoin’s lingering silence [BTC] the price also seemed to have affected miners’ economics, preventing them from cashing in on their holdings. According to a recent update shared by on-chain analytics company Glassnode, the total supply in miner addresses has risen to a monthly high of 1.82 million.
📈 #Bitcoin $BTC Miners’ Balance Just Hit a 1-Month High of 1,829,275,844
The previous 1-month high of 1,829,248,286 was observed on August 2, 2023
View statistics:https://t.co/cHhwgaCLee pic.twitter.com/jBn6WL6cZS
— glassnode alerts (@glassnodealerts) August 6, 2023
Read Bitcoin [BTC] Price Forecast 2023-24
BTC is testing miners’ patience
As is known, miners are responsible for creating new BTC tokens and putting them into circulation. Miners depend on fiat currencies to cover their machine and electricity costs and therefore often liquidate their holdings.
However, Bitcoin has remained rangebound for the past month and a half. Since the market rally in June, the king coin has oscillated by a slim margin of $29,000-$31,000. CoinMarketCap. In fact, the bulls have struggled to break through the $30,000 mark for the past two weeks.
Source: CoinMarketCap
The disappointing performance may have reinforced the hoarding mentality, and miners could unload a larger portion of their supply during the next bull run.
Miners’ earnings are drying up
Bitcoin miners have had a rough time in recent months. Total revenue — a combination of block grants and transaction fees — has gone downhill since the BRC-20 frenzy in early May.
BTC’s weak price action drove users off the blockchain, leading to a significant drop in network traffic and, in turn, fees generated from transactions. After being battered by the punitive crypto winter of 2022, these developments added to miners’ woes.
Source: Glassnode
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Not an encouraging sign
Additionally, the chart above revealed a significant drop in the 7-day hash rate average over the past month. The drop in profitability could have potentially led to the exodus of less efficient miners.
Overall, the drop in miner revenue and hash rate were alarming developments for the Bitcoin network. Not only do they discourage mining, but the subsequent exodus of miners could compromise the security of the blockchain.
At the time of writing, BTC was exchanging hands on $29,032.91, with marginal gains in the 24-hour period.