On October 26, miners transferred 21,140 BTC to Binance — a batch worth about $1.7 billion at prices at the time of the operation. The inflow from miners to the exchange exceeded 20,000 BTC for the sixth time since February 2026, and their total reserves declined to approximately 1.19 million BTC — nearly the lowest level in more than five years.
The reserve dynamics are telling: at the start of 2024, miners held about 1.22 million BTC, roughly 30,000 BTC more than current levels. The outflow from miners' wallets did not stop even in 2024 and 2025, when the bitcoin price rose noticeably. This fundamentally distinguishes the current cycle from previous ones: supply from miners is not accumulating but is being systematically released into the market.
Why miners are selling right now
There are several reasons. Miners pay for electricity, equipment, cooling, and salaries in conventional currencies, while earning revenue in BTC. A high price allows them to lock in profit, and strong demand and high trading volume help them sell a large batch through an exchange or an over-the-counter (OTC) deal.
An additional factor is the halving, the scheduled halving of the block reward: miners are preparing for it, saving money, and upgrading equipment. The large inflow to Binance also coincided with preparations for the closure of the exchange's mining pool: Binance Pool will cease operations on November 10 at 10:00 Moscow time, and along with it cloud mining and the Pool Savings product will close. Users must switch their equipment to other services before that deadline.
ETF vs. miners: diverging signals
While miners were moving coins to the exchange, BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) spot fund received about $105 million on October 26 and another $133 million the next day — total inflows over two days reached $238 million. The behavior of miners and ETF participants diverges: the former are moving coins to the trading venue, the latter are increasing investments. A transfer to an exchange does not yet mean a sale, although it often precedes one. If demand from funds weakens, miners' selling could hit the BTC price harder.
Miners' backup source of income is also under pressure: many companies in the industry are repurposing capacity for artificial intelligence tasks, and these services are getting cheaper. Since June 2026, prices for AI services have been declining, while rental of an H100 chip holds at around $2.70 per hour, so AI companies risk spending more on data centers than they can recoup.
Cryptalist analysis: The years-long accumulated outflow of miners' reserves structurally reduces the potential supply of BTC in the future, which is rather a positive factor for long-term investors. However, in the short term, the combination of the sixth large inflow to the exchange this year, halving pressure, and preparations for the closure of Binance Pool creates a risk of locally heightened volatility. Market resilience will depend on whether ETF inflows can offset miners' selling.