Roughly one in five Bitcoin miners are currently losing money — and that pressure is reshaping the industry in early 2026. Publicly traded miners have been forced into aggressive selling to cover operating costs, a trend driven by a stubborn squeeze on revenues and tougher competition on the network.
What’s behind the squeeze
- Hashprice — the daily revenue a miner earns per unit of computing power — has slid steadily since July 2025 and now sits at about $33 per PH/s/day, according to Hashrate Index. For many operators, especially those running older rigs, breakeven sits near $35. That seemingly small gap is enough to push a large portion of the sector into the red.
- Compounding the pain: a rising network hashrate (more competition for the same rewards), reduced block rewards after the most recent halving, and macroeconomic headwinds that have kept Bitcoin prices under pressure.
Record-level liquidations
Major publicly traded miners — including Marathon Digital (MARA), CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific and Bitdeer — sold more than 32,000 BTC in Q1 2026, TheEnergyMag reports. That haul not only eclipses what those companies sold across all of 2025 but also tops the prior quarterly record of roughly 20,000 BTC set in Q2 2022 (the Terra–Luna fallout period).
A longer-term bleed
This quarter’s selling accelerated a trend that’s been in motion for years. CryptoQuant data shows the industry’s collective miner holdings fell from more than 1.86 million BTC at the end of 2023 to about 1.8 million BTC today. The decline has been gradual but persistent, and Q1’s outsized sales likely widened the gap.
Outlook and market response
Asset manager CoinShares warned in its Q1 2026 Bitcoin Mining Report that higher-cost operators should expect continued capitulation through the first half of the year unless Bitcoin’s price stages a meaningful recovery. At the same time, corporate balance-sheet buyers are stepping in to scoop up BTC: MicroStrategy — the largest public Bitcoin treasurer — has continued to add to its position, and CEO Michael Saylor recently shared the company’s BTC acquisition chart, a move his followers often read as a sign of an imminent purchase.
Why it matters
The current dynamics — miners selling to fund operations while large corporate buyers accumulate — underscore a bifurcated market. Miner balance sheets, the pace of network upgrades, and Bitcoin’s price trajectory will determine whether the industry stabilizes or sees further consolidation in the months ahead.
Sources: Hashrate Index, TheEnergyMag, CryptoQuant, CoinShares. Featured image: MetaAI. Chart: TradingView.
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