The past few months have been difficult for miners. Mining profitability has dropped to its lowest levels on record, while bitcoin continues to fluctuate around $60,000.
The price drop to $62,000 coincided with a slowdown in network activity. As a result, mining companies’ earnings have fallen significantly, and talk of possible reserve sales has returned to the market.
The reason for this attention is clear. Miners and mining pools still hold large reserves of BTC, valued at more than $110 billion. Their actions rarely go unnoticed.
Profitability of 1 TH/s of computational power per day in US dollars. Source: Luxor Hashrate Index.
On Tuesday, the estimated daily profitability of 1 TH/s of computational power fell to $0.028. A month ago, the figure was around $0.039.
This is a significant drop for mining companies. For example, Antminer S21 XP Hydro at an electricity cost of $0.07 per kWh now brings in about $137 in gross profit per month. A month earlier, the estimate was closer to $192.
Competition for computing infrastructure also complicates the situation. Demand for AI computing power is growing, investment in data centers is increasing, and bitcoin mining is becoming less profitable. All this is happening as BTC is testing an important support zone around $60,000.
Change in bitcoin miners’ net position over the past 30 days. Source: Glassnode Studio.
The net position of miners and mining pools turned negative back in early May. Looking at the 14-day average, this trend continues to this day.
Simply put, miners are now selling more BTC than they are accumulating. Some companies may be covering current expenses, others reducing debt. Some players are likely freeing up cash for data center and AI infrastructure development.
For the price of bitcoin, the reason is less important. Additional supply is coming to the market, and this hinders recovery.
Hashrate concentration also raises questions. According to the latest seven-day data, Foundry USA, AntPool and F2Pool together control about 59% of the network’s computing power. In 2022, the three largest pools accounted for about 44%, so the influence of the leaders has grown significantly.
Priorities are also shifting within the mining industry itself. Analysts at Bernstein believe that the main constraint for AI data center development is not chips, but access to electricity. Some bitcoin miners are already using part of their energy infrastructure for AI computing. For them, this may be a more stable and profitable direction than traditional mining.
Capriole Investments Founder Charles Edwards estimates the current cost of mining one bitcoin at about $62,650 including equipment depreciation. If only electricity costs are considered, the figure drops to $50,120.
But within the industry, the range is much wider. Miners’ working conditions vary greatly. Some use new equipment and buy electricity at preferential industrial rates, while others operate with higher costs.
For example, American Bitcoin Corp reported that in the first quarter of 2026, its operating costs for mining one BTC were about $36,200.
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Because of this, it’s quite difficult to compare the entire sector by a single number. While some companies count every dollar of expenses, others continue to feel relatively confident even at the current bitcoin rate.
Weak profitability also does not mean that miners will immediately shut down equipment. In practice, many continue mining even during less favorable periods, hoping to wait out a market downturn or maintain their share of the hashrate. Some continue mining due to long-term electricity contracts, some are counting on future price growth, and for others, tax accounting features are important.
It is also important to remember that the market structure has changed significantly. Now, demand from large funds and other institutional buyers largely exceeds the volume of new coins that miners bring to the market each day. Therefore, even partial reserve sales no longer have the same impact on price as they did a few years ago.
History also shows that bitcoin can trade below the estimated cost of production for a long time. According to Capriole Investments, this situation lasted for more than six months in 2019 and repeated in 2023.
So miners’ profitability is important, but it is not everything. The further movement of BTC will depend on investor sentiment, demand for risk assets, and the overall macroeconomic situation. If the market remains cautious, pressure on $60,000 may persist. If demand returns, weak miner margins alone are unlikely to be the main obstacle to recovery.
