Bitcoin (BTC) price had dropped by around 5% in the last 24 hours as the selling pressure increased. A report suggests that long-term BTC holders and miners have emerged as massive sellers, showing limited signs of renewed demand. 

Bitcoin saw miners sell-off

As per CryptoQuant, these sellers had offloaded over $1.2 billion worth of Bitcoin. It reveals that the liquidity of stablecoins is growing at its slowest pace since November 2023. This indicates a broader market slowdown.

Experts noted that traders are still not increasing their Bitcoin holdings and large holders’ (whales) demand growth is still missing strength. However, the decline in Whale Bitcoin holdings coincides with BTC prices dropping from over $70,000 in late May to $64,000 price levels

Bitcoin price has dropped by around 4% in the last 30 days. BTC is trading at an average price of $65,055, at the press time. However, it is still up by 50% on YTD. Its 24 hour trading volume stood over $33.8 billion on Wednesday with a market cap of $1.2 trillion.

The report mentioned that one such indicator of this sell-off is the declining Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) age bands. UTXOs provide insights into market behavior. A decrease in UTXO age suggests increased Bitcoin activity and selling.

Selling pressure still on?

“One of the biggest trends since Bitcoin halving this year is that miners are increasingly diverting to AI business,” noted Lucy Hu, a senior analyst. “The fall of the mining rewards prompted miners to seek other channels to boost revenue.”

This shift comes as Bitcoin prices have been under pressure from a strong dollar, a move away from riskier assets, and growth in traditional stock indices. Additionally, US listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking Bitcoin saw net outflows of over $600 million last week, marking their worst performance since late April.

Despite the current market challenges, there are signs of potential institutional adoption of Bitcoin and crypto-linked stocks. Broker Bernstein’s recent research report highlights that while some crypto bears believe the initial excitement around spot Bitcoin ETFs has waned, approvals for these ETFs at major wirehouses and large private bank platforms could come as soon as Q3/Q4.