Bitcoin yet again failed to sustain its rally over $30,000 Monday, as it was harshly rejected by the key $31,500 level. As previously mentioned, this level is critical to overcome for Bitcoin to rally towards $35,000.
Some on-chain metrics suggest that the bottom may not be in and there could be more selling pressure. This is shown by data from Glassnode, specifically the net unrealised profit/loss (NUPL), which is a measure of the overall unrealized profit and loss of the network as a proportion of the market cap. This metric indicates that less than 25% of the market cap is held in profit. This has happened three times since 2015 and each time has led to a capitulation phase with further downside in the following months.
Why it’s important to keep an eye on Bitcoin miners
The Bitcoin miner net position change shows that Bitcoin miners have been net sellers over the past month, as miner distribution (sell pressure) reached a peak of around 8,000 Bitcoin per month. Coin Metrics measured spikes in the flow of BTC from miners to exchanges in the first half of May and there was another spike in late January.
“I think this sell pressure from miners could be due to the decline in Bitcoin price, which has decreased the profitability for miners,” said Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst with digital asset broker GlobalBlock. “However, I am not concerned by this behaviour, as Intel are releasing second-generation, Bitcoin-specific mining chips, which are more efficient than those of most rivals.”
UK-listed mining play Argo Blockchain (LSE:ARB) said this week it would be working with ePIC Blockchain, a Canadian hardware manufacturer, to design and build rigs which would utilise these new second generation mining chips. The company’s London shares have been sliding steadily along with the current Bitcoin price. While Argo Blockchain said it was upgrading its hashrate outlook for 2022, it has still seen a 25% drop in the Bitcoin that it was able to mine in May.
All eyes on the April CPI reading
Argo Blockchain’s CEO Peter Wall has said the investment in the new machines is a “game changer”. Some pundits reckon the new chips could break a current duopoly held by Bitmain and MicroBT. Block (SQ) and Griid Infrastructure are also thought to be in line for the new tech.
Crypto miner Hive Blockchain sold about 10,000 ETH to pay for Intel Bitcoin mining rigs. These will go into mass production early 2023, and potentially increase the profitability of Bitcoin miners. “I think this will be a catalyst for increased adoption of Bitcoin mining globally, as it could help mining firms meet ESG (environmental, social and governance) objectives,” Sotiriou said.
The key factor for determining if there will be further BTC downside over the coming months is if soaring inflation persists. U.S. CPI data for May is released on Friday and is expected to be 8.2% year-over-year which is a 0.1% decline from April’s CPI reading of 8.3%. Even though the expected reading resembles a decrease in inflation, we would need to see a more significant decline for the Federal Reserve to change course, and therefore sustained upside for crypto.
