Bitcoin Miners Are Hoarding Their Crypto Despite Plunge—Here’s What It Means

Bitcoin has faced a challenging market environment, with its price remaining below $88,000 and registering a 10.1% decline over the past two weeks.

This significant downturn has been marked by considerable selloffs and a lack of upward momentum. However, amidst this bearish trend, a new development within the Bitcoin mining community has been highlighted by a CryptoQuant analyst.

Miners Hoard Their Bitcoin

A CryptoQuant analyst known as BilalHuseynov recently highlighted an intriguing shift in miner behavior. According to the analyst, Bitcoin miners have significantly reduced their withdrawal activity.

Since December 2024, miner reserves have remained steady, indicating that miners are holding onto their mined Bitcoin rather than selling it off. This shift comes after a period of increased selling when prices were higher. BilalHuseynov explained:

The Miner Reserve is not changing nominally from December 2024. As soon as the Bitcoin price increased, miners sold significantly. That was obvious! But since last December, after Bitcoin hit its ATL according to Bitcoin Miner Withdrawing Addresses, we can see that the withdrawal transactions have been stopped and even decreased.

This strategy appears to align with a broader market downturn, where miners opt to accumulate Bitcoin during low-price periods rather than cashing out.

“Miner Reserves are not affected significantly. It seems they are gathering their Bitcoin. In general, that is happening in the downtrends of the crypto market,” the analyst added.

Overall, the data from BilalHuseynov suggests that miners may be positioning themselves for a potential recovery. By holding rather than selling, they effectively reduce supply pressure, which could help stabilize prices in the longer term.

Institutions Step In

In a related development, another CryptoQuant analyst known as Amr Taha reported significant outflows from Coinbase Advanced over the past two days. These large outflows—interpreted as aggressive accumulation—may signal growing interest from institutional investors.

With Coinbase serving as a key platform for US-based institutions, the sizable withdrawals could indicate long-term holding strategies rather than short-term speculative moves.

Additionally, Taha noted that these movements might be tied to Bitcoin ETF activity, reflecting increased underlying demand and reinforcing a potential “supply squeeze” narrative. The analyst wrote:

These large outflows typically suggest accumulation by institutions or large investors, potentially signaling bullish sentiment. If this aligns with increased spot demand or ETF inflows, it could reinforce a supply squeeze narrative.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is still in bearish territory, with its current price sitting below $86,000. At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $85,365, marking a 1.4% decrease in the past day and a roughly 11.8% plunge in the past week.

Featured image created with DALL-E, Chart from TradingView