Bitcoin miners have increased BTC sales since the start of the asset's rally to the level of $58,000, which has put strong downward pressure on the rate of the first cryptocurrency.
The data shows that overall, miners have increased sales over the past two months, with some particularly large market entries causing large spikes. Over the past month, there have been several massive outflows of BTC from miners ' wallets. In mid-January, there were two cases: 12,690 BTC ($444 million) and 12,570 BTC ($450 million). On January 29, the miners transferred approximately 16,600 BTC (about $570 million at that time) from their wallets.
Standard Hashrate Group CEO Alex Zhao noted that bitcoin miners, at least in Asia, began to increase their sales as the bull run developed in January:
"The Asian mining community thought bitcoin would peak at around $20,000. Therefore, many miners have sold a significant amount of bitcoin in the range of $17,000 to $19,000. When the price of bitcoin set records in January, many miners continued selling because they wanted to guarantee their profits."
An increase in the scale of bitcoin sales conducted by miners may put downward pressure on the price of BTC. However, much depends on where the bitcoins are moved — to an exchange for sale on the open market or sold to an investor who places them in cold storage.
On February 21, there was another outflow of bitcoin from miners in the amount of 7850 BTC ($450 million), which could have an impact on the subsequent decline in the price of bitcoin.
