Publicly listed Bitcoin mining companies sold more than 32,000 BTC in the first quarter of 2026, in what appears to be the largest quarterly liquidation on record, according to data analyzed by Miner Weekly.

The volume of sales already exceeds the total net BTC sold across all four quarters of 2025, even though first-quarter reporting from several firms is still incomplete.

Mining Sell-Off Wave

Major operators involved in the selling include MARA, CleanSpark, Riot Platforms, Cango, Core Scientific, and Bitdeer. All of these companies have collectively reduced their BTC holdings as mining conditions tightened further at the start of the year. The scale of the liquidation is similar only to earlier periods of stress in the industry, surpassing the roughly 20,000 BTC sold by public miners in the second quarter of 2022, when the sector was impacted by market disruptions following the Terra-Luna collapse.

The latest figures stand in contrast to the accumulation trend seen in last year, when miners added about 17,593 BTC to their reserves by the end of 2024, taking combined holdings above the 100,000 BTC level. The change toward selling has coincided with continued pressure on mining profitability, as hashprice – a metric that estimates mining revenue per unit of computing power – has fallen to levels near historical lows in the low $30 per petahash per second range.

At these levels, profit margins are heavily compressed, particularly for miners operating older hardware or facing higher electricity costs, which makes continued holding of mined Bitcoin increasingly difficult. The decline in profitability has been shaped by structural changes in the network over recent years, including a significant increase in total hash rate following China’s mining ban in 2021, which led to rapid global expansion in mining capacity.

At the same time, Bitcoin’s block reward was reduced in 2024, while network difficulty has risen to roughly ten times the level seen in 2021. Such a trend has amplified competition among miners. Although Bitcoin prices remain high compared with previous market cycles, even after pulling back from recent highs above $120,000, the increase in network difficulty has offset much of the revenue benefit.

As a result, overall mining economics have tightened significantly, which ended up contributing to the decision by several operators to liquidate reserves. The selling activity is not uniform across the industry. Some miners are under greater financial pressure than others, depending on fleet efficiency, energy contracts, and access to capital.

Energy Rebrand Wave

Beyond the balance sheet pressures, some industry observers argue that the identity of BTC mining is starting to change. Paul Sztorc, CEO of LayerTwo Labs, said Bitcoin mining is “dying” while highlighting several industry changes as signs of stress. He noted that “MinerMag” has been rebranded as “Energy Mag,” while the “Mining Stage” at Bitcoin 2026 has been renamed the “Energy Stage,” demonstrating a major shift in how the sector is being framed.

Sztorc also said MARA, the world’s largest bitcoin miner, removed direct Bitcoin references from its website around two years ago. According to the exec, Cormint, another major miner, dropped the “Exahash” metric from its site, which is commonly used to measure mining scale.