Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Dips as Public Miners Offload Record BTC Holdings
Bitcoin mining difficulty edged down 1.1% while publicly traded miners sold more BTC in Q1 2026 than in all of 2025 combined, underscoring deepening financial pressure across the sector.
Bitcoin's mining difficulty slipped to approximately 135.5 trillion in the latest network adjustment, representing a modest 1.1% decline, though the metric is forecast to rebound to around 137.4 trillion at the next adjustment, expected in mid-May 2026 [1].
The dip comes as publicly traded mining companies face intensifying financial strain. Firms including MARA, CleanSpark, Riot, Cango, Core Scientific, and Bitdeer collectively offloaded more than 32,000 BTC during Q1 2026 — surpassing total sales across all four quarters of 2025, and exceeding the roughly 20,000 BTC sold in Q2 2022 during the Terra-Luna collapse [1].
Miners routinely liquidate holdings to meet fiat-denominated operating costs, but rising energy prices and increased network competition have squeezed margins significantly. Asset manager CoinShares estimates that up to 20% of Bitcoin miners are currently operating at a loss [1].
The sector has struggled since a sharp BTC price correction in late 2025, which dragged the token from a peak of around $125,000 down to roughly $86,000 by December — compounding pressures already introduced by the April 2024 block reward halving, according to CoinShares' Q1 2026 mining report [1].
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