One of the largest crypto mining companies sold off most of its bitcoin holdings in June, realizing $167 million, which it intends to use to pay off a handful of debt.
Core Scientific sold 7,202 coins. It now has 1,959 BTC and $132 million in cash on its balance sheet.
By holding the majority of bitcoin, public mining companies often act as proxies on the stock market, providing investors with exposure without directly owning the coins.
Others also believe that holding large positions in bitcoin will boost their balance sheets in the long run.
bitcoin mining struggle
However, many miners are currently struggling to pay off debt or fulfill large purchase orders for mining equipment placed during the boom last year.
Operating costs have even exceeded mining revenue for some miners, as shrinking prices provide dwindling mining rewards.
“Our industry is facing tremendous stress as capital markets weaken, interest rates are rising and the economy is dealing with historic inflation,” said Core Scientific CEO Mike Levitt.
The company says that it will continue to sell its mined bitcoins to pay for operating expenses and maintain liquidity, among other things.
The company is still bullish on the cryptocurrency and plans to continue developing and self-mining its bitcoin data centers.
Founded in 2017, the Austin, Texas-based firm is one of the largest miners in the world.
According to its latest public filing, its 180,000 servers provided roughly 10% of the current computing power securing the bitcoin network as of June 30.
Meanwhile, Bitfarms also sold most of its BTC holdings last month. About half of the coins minted by the Canadian crypto miner were sold to pay off debts.
Additionally, Riot Blockchain made the first sale of its bitcoin holdings earlier this year.
So far, other public miners such as Marathon Digital Holdings and Hut8 Mining have not been forced to continue holding any of their bitcoins.