Bitcoin Miners Remain Resilient Amid Waning Trader Risk Appetite — Glassnode
Bitcoin (BTC) miners continue to show unwavering resilience as the network’s hash rate approaches an all-time high, according to a recent report by Glassnode.
The report highlighted that the 14-day moving average hash rate has surged to 666.4 exahashes per second (EH/s), just 1% below the record. This increase signifies that miners are still deploying new mining equipment despite the challenging market conditions.
Additionally, the report noted that this rise in the hash rate corresponds with an increase in mining difficulty. Currently, the average number of hashes required to mine a block has reached 338,000 exahash, marking the second-highest level in Bitcoin’s history.
Building Reserves
Despite the increasing hash rate, miners’ revenue has dropped significantly since Bitcoin’s price peak in March, primarily due to reduced fee pressure. This decline is attributed to lower demand for monetary transfers and a decrease in fees from Runes and Inscription-related transactions.
Miners’ block subsidy revenue currently averages $824 million over 30 days, while transaction fee revenue amounts to $20 million for the same period. Data from a Dune Analytics dashboard by user CryptoKoryo showed that, between August 30 and September 6, Runes and Inscription-related transactions failed to reach the 50,000 mark on six out of eight days, reflecting a continued downturn in transaction volume since the protocol’s deployment in April.
The report also highlighted that miners have largely sold most of their mined Bitcoin to cover operational costs, a result of the capital-intensive nature of the mining industry. However, miners have shifted from net distribution to retaining some of their mined BTC in treasury reserves.
Glassnode identified this as an “interesting development,” noting that miners typically sell during market downturns and hold during uptrends. The shift could be due to the increasing hash rate and difficulty, which have raised production costs and may negatively impact miners’ profitability in the near term.
Traders Shift to a Holding Stance
While miners remain resilient, Bitcoin traders appear to be adopting a more cautious approach, shifting to a “holding” stance. On-chain settlement volume has declined, with the network now processing approximately $6.2 billion in daily transaction volume, a reduction generally seen as a negative signal for network usage and throughput.
The report also pointed out a significant decrease in monthly inflows to centralized exchanges, which have fallen below the yearly average. This decline suggests lower investor demand and reduced trading activity among speculators at current price levels.
Glassnode analysts observed a continued decline in spot trading volume momentum over the last 90 days, reflecting a broader reduction in trading activity during the past quarter. Despite this, the spot Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) metric, which tracks the net balance of market buying and selling in centralized exchanges, indicated increased selling pressure during the same period.
Analyzing Bitcoin’s price performance in August, Glassnode identified both positive and negative trends. However, based on other indicators, Bitcoin currently sits in a low-risk zone, a position vulnerable to external factors such as macroeconomic shifts, which could lead to significant price movements in either direction.
