In July, public miners continued to liquidate bitcoin reserves

In July, public mining companies sold 5,767.9 BTC with a total mined of 3,478 BTC, according to Hashrate Index experts.

CORRECTION:

An earlier version of this article reported that Hive did not sell BTC last month. The article has been updated to correct this error.

Accounting for this, public miners sold 5,767.9 BTC last month👇https://t.co/0gHwu2f0Ad https://t.co/rK6qboQ1na

— Hashrate Index (@hashrateindex) August 9, 2022

The selling volume was roughly 66% higher than the mined amount.

Only Hut 8 and Marathon Digital did not sell cryptocurrency. Earlier they confirmed their commitment to the strategy of expanding bitcoin reserves.

Of the rest, only Riot sold less than mined, and thus the company also increased its cryptocurrency on the balance sheet.

Many miners, since spring, liquidated a significant portion of their bitcoin holdings. In June, their collective holdings decreased by 14,600 BTC or about 23%.

Researchers noted that in July, production of bitcoin among many U.S. miners fell for various reasons. Some were shutting down facilities as they began receiving next-generation miners, while others moved operations between data centres.

In Texas, mining companies suspended operations due to peak electricity demand driven by the intense heat. Meanwhile, Riot Blockchain, based in the state, earned more revenue from contracts with the grid operator ERCOT for returning electricity to the grid than from mining.

For the unused 11,717 MWh in July, ERCOT paid the firm $9.5 million, while the mined 318 BTC were worth $6.9 million.

Core Scientific and Argo Blockchain also paused mining operations in Texas, but researchers have no data on whether they have agreements with ERCOT to be compensated for disconnecting from the grid.

Against this backdrop, Argo increased Bitcoin production by 22% in July. Overall, for most companies, хешрейт rose for the month, albeit modestly, the experts noted.

In July, miners’ total revenue amounted to $609.7 million. The metric fell by 9% compared with the previous month, easing the decline which in June had reached 26%.

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