A 33-day dry spell for solo Bitcoin miners ended last week when one small operator cracked a block that, statistically, should not have been cracked for decades. Related Reading: XRP Eyes $8.30 Target As Rare Chart Pattern Emerges From Prolonged Decline One Miner, One Block, One Very Long Shot The winning miner earned 3.139 BTC — worth roughly $210,000 — after successfully validating block 943,411 on April 3. The payout included the standard 3.125 BTC block subsidy and approximately 0.014 BTC in transaction fees. Data from mempool.space confirmed the transaction. The miner operated through CKPool, a platform built for independent operators who prefer to go it alone and keep most of what they earn. What made the win remarkable was the hardware behind it. The miner’s setup ran at just 230 terahashes per second. At the time, Bitcoin’s total network hashrate sat at approximately 1 zettahash per second. That put the miner’s share of global computing power at around 0.00002% — a slice so thin it barely registers. A solo Bitcoin miner with a small setup just hit the jackpot earning 3.139 BTC block rewards worth $210,000. His setup was so small, he should statistically win once every 76 years. pic.twitter.com/z7s1LxIhZT — Bitcoin Archive (@BitcoinArchive) April 6, 2026 CKPool developer Con Kolivas put the daily odds of success at roughly 1 in 28,000. Bitcoin Archive analyst Archie framed it differently: a miner at that power level should statistically win once every 76 years. This particular miner didn’t wait that long. Congratulations to miner bc1qtt7cr9cxykyp9g4hq47zf5lq9t97cxvq72lun3 with ~230TH for solving the 312th solo block at https://t.co/UWgBvLk5AE! A miner of this size has a 1 in ~28k chance per day of solving a block.https://t.co/dx3lUuDRbl pic.twitter.com/uiDOzZdHts — Dr -ck (@ckpooldev) April 2, 2026 A Pattern Of Unlikely Wins The April win marked the 312th solo block ever mined through CKPool, based on data from the Bennet solo-miner tracker. It snapped a 33-day gap since the previous solo success, recorded on February 28. But the result is far from an isolated case. Reports show a string of similar upsets over recent months. In December, a miner running at 270 TH/s walked away with more than $284,000. Before that, a setup running at just 6 TH/s — far smaller than the latest winner — pulled in around $265,000. A 200 TH/s rig scored approximately $350,000 back in September. Even rented computing power produced results: in late February, a miner reportedly spent about $75 on cloud hashrate and came away with close to $200,000 in rewards. Each of those wins carried odds steep enough to discourage most rational participants. And yet they kept happening. Related Reading: Bitcoin Mood Sours To Levels Not Seen Since Late February Big Miners Head In A Different Direction While independent operators occasionally pocket life-changing sums, large mining companies have been moving away from holding Bitcoin. Riot Platforms sold 3,778 BTC in the first quarter of 2026, generating roughly $289 million, while still holding 15,680 BTC at quarter’s end. MARA Holdings moved even faster, selling more than 15,000 BTC between early and late March to raise approximately $1.1 billion, using the proceeds to handle debt-related obligations. Featured image from Meta, chart from TradingView
Bitcoin’s miner supply picture remains tighter than in past cycles, but not tight enough to call it a true supply shock. New data from Axel Adler Jr.’s latest Bitcoin Morning Brief suggests miners still retain a meaningful over-the-counter reserve even as exchange-directed selling pressure stays elevated. Bitcoin Miners Flash Mixed Signal Adler’s core argument rests on two separate but related indicators. One tracks the 30-day moving average of BTC inflows from miners to exchanges, which serves as a direct proxy for realized selling pressure entering the market. The other measures the aggregate BTC balance held on OTC addresses associated with miners, offering a view into how much inventory can still be sold outside public order books. Taken together, the charts point to a market that is absorbing ongoing miner distribution, not one that has suddenly run out of hidden supply. As Adler put it, “For the market this is a mixed signal: the hidden OTC overhang is limited compared to past cycles, but tactical pressure in the market channel has not yet been removed.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Holds $70K – Is The High‑Beta Era Over? That distinction matters. A low OTC balance can be read as constructive because it implies miners have less sidelined inventory available for large off-exchange deals. But if the coins miners are currently producing are still being routed to exchanges at an elevated pace, immediate market pressure remains intact. The exchange inflow data is central to that argument. According to Adler, miner exchange inflows rose noticeably after Halving #4 relative to the early post-halving period, and the trend accelerated further from autumn 2025 onward. By 2026, the 30DMA remained in what he described as an elevated regime, indicating that “a significant portion of freshly mined supply is still being directed into the market, and current miner pressure cannot be considered removed.” Recent weeks have shown some moderation from the latest highs, but Adler does not view that as decisive. “In recent weeks the chart shows a local pullback from recent peaks,” he wrote. “But against the backdrop of strong growth over recent months, this does not yet look like a confirmed downward reversal – rather a pause within a still-elevated exchange inflow regime. To speak of a real reduction in miner pressure, a more sustained decline of the 30DMA from the current elevated zone is needed, not a short oscillation within it.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Miner Selling Pressure Drops To Near Three-Year Low The OTC side of the picture is more nuanced. Miner-linked OTC balances currently sit around 152.6K BTC, well below the historical peak near 595K BTC in 2018 and only modestly above the series low of roughly 146.9K BTC recorded in July 2025. By long-term standards, that does leave the OTC reserve compressed. Still, Adler explicitly pushes back on the idea that the reserve is effectively gone. “The current level is close to the lower bound of the historical range, but claiming the buffer is ‘almost entirely exhausted’ would be an overstatement: more than 150K BTC is still a significant volume,” he wrote. “In recent months the OTC balance has been oscillating within a relatively narrow range, and in February there was even a noticeable upward spike. This looks more like a regime of low but persisting reserve than a final phase of complete buffer depletion.” That framing is the key to the piece. The report does not argue that miner supply is abundant. It argues that the supply backdrop has become structurally tighter than in earlier cycles without yet crossing into outright scarcity. Miners have “substantially less OTC inventory than in past cycles,” Adler said, but the reserve “has not disappeared.” Instead, it “no longer looks large enough to create the same hidden supply overhang the market could see previously.” At press time, BTC traded at $ Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin miner selling pressure has fallen sharply, with BTC inflows from miners to Binance dropping to levels not seen since mid-2023. The shift matters because miner distribution is one of the market’s more persistent sources of structural sell-side pressure, and the latest data suggests that pressure has eased for now. In a post via X on Sunday, CryptoQuant contributor Darkfost said the monthly average of BTC inflows from miners to Binance has fallen to roughly 4,316 BTC. When the same activity is measured across all exchanges, the figure rises only slightly to 4,381 BTC, reinforcing the point that the slowdown is not limited to a single venue. Bitcoin Miner Selling Pressure Drops The reversal follows a brief spike earlier this year tied to extreme weather in the United States. According to Darkfost, miner inflows picked up during the ice storm that hit the country in late January and early February, when several large US-based mining pools were forced to scale back or temporarily suspend operations. That disruption, he argued, likely translated into heavier BTC sales as miners worked to cover ongoing expenses despite reduced output. Related Reading: Bitcoin Market Not Ready For Expansion Yet — Blockchain Firm “It is important to recall that during this weather event, several large US based mining pools were forced to slow down or temporarily halt their operations,” Darkfost wrote. “Even when activity is reduced, however, fixed costs remain high, including electricity, infrastructure, and operational expenses. This situation likely pushed some miners to increase their BTC sales in order to maintain liquidity.” That dynamic now appears to have faded. “Since then, the trend has clearly reversed,” he added, describing current inflows as having fallen to “historically low levels.” He noted that a similarly weak reading for miner transfers to Binance was last seen on June 5, 2023. The broader implication is straightforward: miners are currently sending less BTC to exchanges, which in turn suggests they are selling less into the market. Darkfost framed that as a constructive development, writing that “the current decline in inflows suggests that miners have significantly reduced their BTC sales, which can be interpreted as a constructive signal for the market, as structural selling pressure from this cohort appears to be temporarily easing.” That does not mean the risk has disappeared. Darkfost estimates that miners still hold around 1.8 million BTC in reserves, a stockpile large enough to matter if market conditions change and distribution accelerates again. In other words, the absence of aggressive selling is supportive, but it is not the same as a supply overhang vanishing altogether. Related Reading: Bitcoin Risks Drop To $52,000, Veteran Analyst Aksel Kibar Says The miner data also arrives alongside signs that Bitcoin is still trying to rebuild a firmer base among short-term holders. In a separate post, Darkfost said the market has spent nearly a month attempting to stabilize above the cost basis of the youngest short-term holder cohort, the 1-week to 1-month group. That cohort’s estimated breakeven level sits at $68,200, making it the only short-term holder segment currently around flat. Further up the ladder, the pressure points are steeper. The 1-month to 3-month cohort has an estimated cost basis of $83,500, while the 3-month to 6-month group sits even higher at $96,900. Darkfost said the 1-month to 3-month level acted as resistance the last time price approached it, as many short-term holders used the move to exit, pushing the broader short-term holder segment back into unrealized loss. At press time, BTC traded at $68,553. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Lekker Capital CIO Quinn Thompson argues on X that collapsing mining economics, combined with a growing shift by public miners toward AI and high-performance compute, could turn corporate BTC treasuries into a fresh source of market supply. “A large underappreciated headwind for Bitcoin is the disaster that which is mining economics. The only way this heals is through a decline in hashrate, which is being spearheaded by the AI compute first movers like CORZ, WULF, CIFR, IREN, etc.,” Thompson wrote. The chart Thompson shared, frames the problem visually. It shows aggregate bitcoin holdings across major listed miners climbing sharply through 2024 and 2025 before rolling over in 2026. Thompson’s argument is not that the AI pivot is bearish in structural terms. Related Reading: Bitcoin Bull Score Surges To 30, Exits ‘Extra Bearish’ Zone On the contrary, lower hashrate and less uneconomic competition could improve mining industry health over time. His point is that the transition itself is expensive, and that capex-heavy AI buildouts may force miners to liquidate BTC that had previously been treated as strategic treasury. “While helpful to long-term health and sustainability of the network economics, it presents a dilemma for prices in the near-term as Bitcoin miners hold almost 80,000 Bitcoin on their balance sheets. As these companies pivot away from BTC mining, they 1) need capital to fund the AI buildout capex requirements and 2) have no reason to hold any BTC on their balance sheet (not that they should have before either),” he argued. Bitcoin Miners Pivot To AI The 2025 filings and public data make that argument more concrete. Core Scientific’s fourth-quarter results showed the business mix tilting away from mining and toward AI-related infrastructure: self-mining revenue fell to $42.2 million from $79.9 million a year earlier, while colocation revenue rose to $31.3 million from $8.5 million. Management said the decline in hosted mining reflected the “continued strategic shift” to high-density colocation. For full-year 2025, Core generated $402.5 million of proceeds from selling digital assets and ended the year with 2,537 BTC on its balance sheet. TeraWulf offers an even cleaner read-through. The company said that in 2025 it “solidified HPC hosting as its primary growth engine,” signed more than $12.8 billion in long-term customer contracts, and built a platform with 522 critical IT megawatts under contract. Yet the legacy mining business was still being monetized as that buildout took shape: fourth-quarter digital asset revenue was $26.1 million, versus $9.7 million in HPC lease revenue, and the company’s year-end digital asset rollforward shows 1,496 BTC mined, 1,500 BTC disposed of, and only 3 BTC left on the balance sheet at Dec. 31, 2025. Related Reading: Bitcoin May Still Fall Under $10,000, Bloomberg’s McGlone Warns Cipher and IREN show two other versions of the same trend. Cipher said it increased its focus on HPC in 2025 and signed two HPC tenants for a combined 600 MW of data center capacity. It also sold bitcoin for approximately $214.7 million during the year. By year-end, Cipher had classified $94.9 million of Black Pearl mining rigs as held for sale after signing a sublease to transition the site to an HPC tenant. IREN, by contrast, has already taken the treasury issue largely off the table: with roughly 99,900 GPUs installed or on order as of Dec. 31, 2025, it said it “typically liquidate[s] all the Bitcoin we mine daily” and therefore held no bitcoin on its balance sheet at year-end. MARA matters for a different reason. It is not yet as far along as Core, TeraWulf, Cipher or IREN in converting mining sites into a full AI/HPC business, though it had deployed its first ten AI racks at Granbury by November 2025 and later announced a Starwood partnership for AI and HPC infrastructure. But MARA is the treasury heavyweight in the group, and its own 2025 disclosures moved in Thompson’s direction: the company said it began selling bitcoin in the second half of 2025, sold about 4,076 BTC for $413.1 million during the year, and still ended 2025 with roughly 53,822 BTC. That is the tension in Thompson’s thesis. A miner-led shift into AI can reduce hashrate pressure and improve the long-run economics of bitcoin mining. But the bridge from mining to AI is capital-intensive, and the 2025 filings show that bridge is already being funded with BTC sales, miner disposals and site conversions. For bitcoin, that means an industry adjustment that may be constructive later can still look like overhang now. At press time, Bitcoin traded at $72,322. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin is now approximately 20% below its estimated average production cost, historically a feature of a bear market.
Bitcoin has managed to reclaim the $88,000 level, offering a brief sense of stability after weeks of choppy price action. However, the broader picture remains fragile. Since early December, BTC has repeatedly failed to push above the $90,000 threshold, a level that continues to cap upside attempts and reinforce market hesitation. Related Reading: Bitcoin Supply In Profit Sets The Stage For Bullish Cross In Q1 2026 Adding to the cautious outlook, CryptoZeno, a CryptoQuant analyst, points to miner behavior as a growing short-term risk factor. According to his analysis, Bitcoin miner outflows are signaling rising sell-side pressure, a dynamic that has historically mattered during periods of weak momentum. The data shows a clear relationship between miner activity and short-term price movements. Sharp increases in total miner outflows—especially when large volumes of BTC are sent to exchanges—have frequently coincided with local price pullbacks rather than sustained rallies. Miners are often considered informed market participants, typically operating with relatively low cost bases. When their distribution activity increases, it can introduce additional supply at moments when spot demand is already struggling to absorb selling pressure. While miner outflows alone do not define a broader market top, they can amplify short-term weakness, particularly in range-bound conditions like the one Bitcoin is currently facing. Miner Outflows Reinforce Short-Term Downside Risks The report explains that recent spikes in Bitcoin miner outflows have repeatedly been followed by immediate or near-term price weakness, reinforcing the link between miner behavior and short-term market dynamics. These episodes suggest that miners—often considered informed participants with relatively low production cost bases—are actively distributing supply during periods of strength or heightened uncertainty. While a miner selling on its own does not signal a macro market top, it frequently adds incremental supply at sensitive moments, increasing short-term pressure when liquidity is thin, or spot demand is unable to absorb new inflows. CryptoZeno adds that elevated miner outflows typically reflect a combination of factors. These include profit realization after rallies, the need to cover operational expenses, or a defensive response to weakening price structure. From an on-chain perspective, this behavior is not unusual during corrective or range-bound phases. However, when miner transfers to exchanges cluster within a short time window, their impact becomes more pronounced. Concentrated outflows can materially increase sell-side pressure on exchanges, raising the probability of corrective price moves rather than sustained upside continuation. At the macro level, miner distribution becomes especially influential when paired with broader headwinds. Neutral or declining risk appetite, tighter liquidity conditions, or cooling derivatives sentiment all reduce the market’s capacity to absorb additional supply. In such environments, miner-driven selling is less likely to be smoothly digested and can instead amplify downside volatility, keeping Bitcoin vulnerable in the near term. Related Reading: XRP Slides To $1.80 While Binance Reserves Continue To Decline Bitcoin Struggles Below Key Resistance Bitcoin continues to trade in a tight consolidation range after failing to reclaim the $90,000 level, as shown on the daily chart. Following the sharp breakdown in November, price found support in the $85,000–$87,000 zone, where selling pressure began to ease and volatility compressed. Since then, BTC has been moving sideways, signaling indecision rather than a decisive trend reversal. From a technical perspective, Bitcoin remains capped below its declining short-term moving averages. The 50-day moving average continues to slope downward and acts as dynamic resistance. The 100-day and 200-day moving averages sit well above the current price, reinforcing a broader bearish structure. As long as BTC trades below these levels, upside attempts are likely to be sold into rather than sustained. Related Reading: XRP Selling Pressure Returns: Investors Shift From Holding to Distribution After the heavy sell-off in November, trading volume has gradually declined. This suggests that aggressive sellers have stepped back, but new demand has not yet entered with conviction. This typically characterizes a stabilization phase rather than the start of a new impulsive move. Structurally, Bitcoin is forming a base, but confirmation remains absent. A daily close above $90,000 could signal a meaningful shift in momentum. And would open the door for a recovery toward higher resistance zones. Conversely, a loss of the $85,000 support area could expose BTC to another leg lower. For now, the chart reflects balance, hesitation, and a market waiting for a catalyst. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com
The company year-to-date has mined 3,986 bitcoin and now ranks seventh among publicly traded BTC holders with 12,608.
IREN plans to expand its AI infrastructure at its site in Childress, Texas, with a new data center set for delivery by the end of 2025
The firm has set its sights on 60 EH/s.
The firm plans on using the proceeds to offset potential equity dilution and market risk.
The mining firm sold 178 BTC near May’s price peak to cover expenses and boost liquidity.
With hashprice hovering near break-even levels, miners liquidated 115% of April production.
Riot also announced it has hired investment banks Evercore and Northland Capital Markets to lead discussions with potential AI and HPC partners.
CleanSpark joins MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms and Hut 8 Mining Corp as a major listed Bitcoin mining firm with 10,000 Bitcoin or more on its balance sheet.
Marathon Digital (MARA) is one of the largest players in the Bitcoin mining space, and it has just unveiled a new approach to managing cost of operations. In a bid to ease financial pressures and generate returns, the company is lending 7,377 BTC, or about 16% of its deposit. This strategic play demonstrates how the […]
Bitcoin miner Hive Digital will move its headquarters from Vancouver to Texas, saying Trump will make Bitcoin mining great again.
It’s beginning to look like a race as miners scramble to buy Bitcoin before the price keeps rallying.
Bitcoin mining company Riot Platforms has increased its BTC holdings with the addition of over 5,000 coins in the past few days. This significant purchase came on the back of reports that the miner was under pressure from activist investor Starboard Value. How Much BTC Does Riot Platforms Currently Own? On Friday, December 13, Riot […]
CleanSpark joins the crowd in raising funds through convertible notes, but doesn't plan to invest the proceeds.
The activist investor is said to be pushing Riot to optimize the use of its facilities the same way many of its colleagues already have.
Bitcoin recently experienced a small retrace from its all-time high of $99,800, dropping to a low of $90,700. Despite this pullback, the price action remains bullish as BTC shows resilience and recovers from the dip. Market momentum remains strong, with key players continuing to show confidence in the asset’s long-term potential. Related Reading: ‘Even In […]
Foreign real estate deals near sensitive U.S. military bases will get more government scrutiny under a new rule from the U.S. Department of the Treasury that has emerged after President Joe Biden ordered a China-tied crypto mining operation beside a Wyoming nuclear missile base shut down earlier this year.
Bitcoin miners could increase profitability and improve "bad balance sheets" by allocating some of their energy capacity to the AI and HPC sectors, according to VanEck.
Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), the world’s largest public listed Bitcoin miner with a market cap of more than $5 billion, has announced a strategic financial initiative to bolster its Bitcoin holdings through the issuance of $250 million in convertible senior notes. Thus, Fred Thiel, Chairman and CEO of Marathon Digital is adopting a […]
The hostile offer comes after a private offer to the board was rejected in April.
Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital has reviewed its hash rate target for this fiscal year to 50 EH/s, according to an April 25 statement. Initially, the miner aimed to boost its mining capacity by about 46% by year-end to as high as 37 EH/s from 24.7 EH/s. However, buoyed by its recent acquisition of a 200-megawatt […]
The post Marathon Digital doubles hash rate target to 50 EH/s appeared first on CryptoSlate.
The Bitcoin halving, one of the most anticipated crypto events in 2024, is less than a month away, and miners seem to be in full preparation for its aftermath. The April event is expected to slash mining rewards on the Bitcoin network in half, making the validation of transactions less lucrative. As of now, miners […]
The firm’s share price decline came just before activist short-selling firm JCapital Research released an unverified report warning Hut 8 investors of an “upcoming pump and dump.”
Marathon Digital mined a whopping 1,853 Bitcoin in December, its most ever in a month.