Bitcoin miners are facing a liquidity crunch as the post-crash fallout deepens. After a $19 billion wipeout in crypto markets, mining firms have begun sending massive amounts of Bitcoin to exchanges - a move that often signals an intent to sell.

Data from CryptoQuant shows that between October 9 and 15, miners transferred 51,000 BTC (over $5.6 billion) to Binance, the biggest wave since mid-2024. Analysts say these transfers reflect financial stress, with operators offloading holdings to cover costs or secure loans.

For most of 2025, miners had been hoarding BTC in anticipation of higher prices after April’s halving. That optimism has faded. With Bitcoin’s difficulty near record highs and block rewards cut to 3.125 BTC, margins have evaporated. According to Hashrate Index, miner revenue has fallen to $45 per terahash, while transaction fees have plunged to their weakest level since 2010.

“Miners can’t ignore fees forever – in the future, they’ll be the main income,” said Jaran Mellerund, a mining analyst.

To stay afloat, large operators are now turning to AI hosting and high-performance computing. Data centers once built for Bitcoin are being rented to AI firms, offering more stable and lucrative returns. Hashlabs estimates that a 1-megawatt facility earns around $896,000 a year from Bitcoin, but as much as $1.46 million from AI workloads.

“The same infrastructure that powered Bitcoin now powers machine learning,” said Nico Smid of Digital Mining Solutions. “Both industries run on energy and data.”

The short-term impact is clear – heavy miner selling adds pressure to a fragile market. But long-term, the transformation of mining into hybrid AI-crypto hubs could redefine the backbone of Bitcoin itself.