Stock traded miners are continuing to sell their bitcoin with Riot Blockchain miners being the latest to reveal they sold 1,925 BTC during Q3 2022.
That’s now worth $37 million, but Riot managed to sell it for $52 million, giving them $255 million in liquid cash overall.
The Q3 earnings report also revealed that “to date, the Company has, in large part, relied on equity financings to fund its operations.”
It is not clear whether this sale of bitcoin indicates that might change as their stock price has dived from $70 in February 2021, to now just $5.
The miner also noted a loss of $36 million for the third quarter and $350 million for the nine months ending September, suggesting bitcoin’s price has fallen below the cost of production for this miner.
Yet Riot says it “continues to have a positive long-term view on its Bitcoin holdings and believes it is in the best interest of its stockholders to have Bitcoin on its balance sheet.”
Another miner, Core Scientific, which is at risk of default, revealed they sold 2,285 bitcoins in October for $44.8 million at an average price of $19,639.
They had just 62 bitcoin as of the 31st of October and $32 million in cash, indicating they have depleted their reserves and are now basically insta-selling what they mine.
Different miners have different mining costs however, but a fairly big miner like Core Scientific depleting their savings suggests that bitcoin’s price has been below the cost of production for a significant amount of time.
This selling pressure therefore should subside as those that are currently insta-selling are probably unable to continue their operations for long, leaving the equivalent of holder miners accumulating, so potentially setting a floor in the process.
That could in part explain the longest sideway bitcoin has seen since 2019 with it now entering its fifth month.
The crypto continues to trade at about $20,000, showing a fairly remarkable lack of volatility that hints a floor may have been found.
