Bitcoin miners have shifted from active selling to a strict holding posture, according to on-chain data cited by Bitfinex and CryptoQuant. The Miner Position Index has fallen to -1.2 in September 2026, well below its annual average. This follows a brief spike to 2.8 during August, when miners sold into Bitcoin’s price surge. A reading above 2 is generally seen as a sign of significant miner distribution, while deeply negative readings suggest that coins are being withheld from exchanges.
The pullback in selling is part of a broader structural transformation. Over the past six months, public Bitcoin miners have reduced realized hashrate by 15%, taking roughly 56 EH/s offline. Cango disconnected 29.5 EH/s and IREN disconnected 21.9 EH/s, together accounting for 68% of the decline among public companies. Additional reductions were recorded at Cipher, Riot, TeraWulf, and CleanSpark.
Rather than capitulating, miners have been redirecting capital toward high-performance computing and AI infrastructure. Industry data indicate that combined spending to repurpose data centers for AI has already exceeded $30 billion, with capital expenditures by the six largest infrastructure providers running nearly 15 times their current operating revenue. This cash-intensive pivot initially forced miners to sell Bitcoin during summer rallies to cover equipment costs.
After those major AI-related expenditures were funded, selling pressure dropped sharply. The flow of Bitcoin from miner wallets to exchanges has nearly dried up, according to Bitfinex. For traders, the current setup creates an environment of constrained supply, reducing immediate sell-side pressure and potentially supporting Bitcoin price stability or accumulation. Market participants are now watching whether the MPI remains deeply negative or rebounds above the 2 threshold, which would indicate renewed miner distribution.
Bitcoin price action itself has remained relatively static in the last 24 hours, with low trading volume suggesting that participants are waiting for clearer signals before committing to new positions.
