Bitcoin’s Test of All-Time Highs Means Old Miners Are Cashing Out

Bitcoin’s
rapid
price
ascent
during
the
last
month,
which

culminated
in
a
new
all-time
high
and

quick
reversal
on
Tuesday,
has
meant
that
some
early
miners
have
started
selling
their
old
block
rewards
–
putting

pressure
on
bitcoin’s
price.

On-chain
data

spotted
by
CryptoQuant
shows
that,
just
before
bitcoin
peaked
at
new
highs
around
$69,000
and
then
plunged
to
$62,000
on
Tuesday,
1,000
bitcoin
worth
roughly
$69
million
were
moved
to
Coinbase
by
addresses
more
than
a
decade
old
and
that
the
research
firm
says
are
linked
to
miners.
(Shifting
long-dormant
tokens
to
Coinbase,
a
large
crypto
exchange,
can
be
a
prelude
to
selling.)

“Considering
that
the
exchange
order
book
shows
5-10
bitcoins
of
liquidity
for
every
$100
price
change,
a
sell-off
of
1,000
bitcoins
is
highly
likely
to
trigger
a
significant
price
drop,”
Bradley
Park,
an
analyst
at
CryptoQuant,
told
CoinDesk
in
an
interview.
“Especially
when
traders
are
waiting
to
enter
a
short
against
bitcoin’s
all-time
high
like
on
Tuesday.”

Park
said
that
the
recent
influx
of
bitcoin
into
exchanges
reminds
him
of
the
sharp
increase
in
BTC
inflows
that
occurred
before
the
40%
price
drop
on
March
12,
2020,
as
Covid-19
began
to
rapidly
escalate
in
severity,
causing
governments
around
the
world
to
begin
lockdowns,

forcing
a
flight
to
safety
for
traders.

When
that
sell-off
finally
ended,

bitcoin
had
bottomed
out
at
$3,850.

“That
time,
it
was
also
miners,”
Park
continued.