Holdings fall to 99,000 BTC; listed miners sell 28,000 BTC year-to-date

Odaily News: Listed mining companies held a combined 127,000 BTC at the start of the year, which has now fallen to 99,000 BTC. They have sold a total of 28,000 BTC year-to-date, valued at approximately $1.78 billion. The selling by listed miners is considered an underestimated factor behind Bitcoin's weak price performance in 2026. Although the scale of these sales is smaller than the ETF net outflow of $4.4 billion, in a downtrend with weak buying pressure, marginal selling pressure has a significant impact on price. Many mining companies are facing profit compression, with an average production cost of approximately $74,300 per BTC, and are pivoting toward AI, leveraging their power capacity to support the transition. Bitcoin mining difficulty has fallen about 18% from its November peak, with the longest consecutive decline in hash rate on record.