coindesk.com
Bitcoin’s $BTC$63,737.54 price slide this year isn’t just about exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and digital asset treasuries. Public miners have been an under-recognized supply source hitting the market right at the margin.
The leading cryptocurrency by market value has tanked 27% since the start of 2026 to just under $64,000, underperforming every major asset, including the S&P 500 Index.
The decline is mainly the result of withdrawals from U.S.-listed spot crypto ETFs, which have registered net outflows of over $4.4 billion, according to data source SoSoValue, forcing the funds to dump their bitcoin holdings. Analysts also point to selling by long-dormant holders and digital-asset treasury companies, most recently by Strategy (MSTR).
Missing from much of the discussion, however, are the publicly listed miners, the companies that validate blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain and receive newly issued $BTC as payment.
According to data tracked by Blockware Intelligence, at the start of the year these firms held a combined 127,000 $BTC. Now, it’s just 99,000 $BTC, meaning they have sold a total of 28,000 $BTC, worth $1.78 billion at current prices.
That amount is smaller than the ETF outflows. But in financial markets, price is set at the margin. The most recent buyers and sellers, not the cumulative volume over months, determine where the price goes. In a downtrend, when buying interest is already weak, even relatively modest and steady selling can have an outsized impact.
“Early year sales from public miners are an underdiscussed contributing factor [in] Bitcoin’s poor price performance in 2026,” the research and analysis division of Blockware Solutions said in its latest newsletter.
Many of these companies are facing squeezed margins, with the average cost to produce one bitcoin at $74,300. In response, a growing number are pivoting into AI and using their secured high-voltage electrical capacity to support that shift.
At the same time, mining difficulty, the computational work needed to add a new block, has fallen about 18% from its November peak, marking the longest stretch of declining hashrate.
In other words, the exodus and AI pivot of several large miners has eased competition, making $BTC cheaper to mine and boosting rewards for those still in the game, a classic free-market reset that could lure new miners back in.
“In other words, the rest of the miners are earning ~18% more Bitcoin now than they were 10 months ago. The exodus of the largest players in the industry is improving the economics for the miners that remain,” Blockware said.