Hash rate is plummeting faster than Bitcoin’s price, suggesting that miners are starting to turn off their machines and await higher prices to return.
An indicator called Hash Ribbons is signaling that miners are only just beginning to capitulate. And while this could suggest more downside in the near term, once things return to normal, the lows act as the final shakeout before a new bull run begins.
Hash Ribbons Signal Miner Capitulation Has Only Just Begun
Bitcoin derives much of its value from its decentralized blockchain network, which is kept operating by a process called proof-of-work, where miners make complex computations that validate each block, keeping the network running and secure.
These miners act as the backbone to the overall supply and demand of the Bitcoin market. They drive the bulk of the supply flooding the market, as all Bitcoin ever sold originated from this process.
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Miners aim to produce each Bitcoin resulting in each BTC generated being worth more in value than the cost required in energy to produce each BTC.
When operational costs run lower than the price of Bitcoin, miners are literally better off buying the cryptocurrency outright than continuing to operate at a loss.
That’s exactly what’s been happening after the latest cryptocurrency market collapse following peak coronavirus panic selling, according to a tool called Hash Ribbons.
Hash Ribbons are used to better understand the price of Bitcoin and its impact on miners.
The tool can help traders prepare for potential mass capitulation by miners, who would be selling their BTC stores, either cashing out their operations completely, or attempting to prepare for lower prices in the future by moving into cash now.
Even though Bitcoin has already crashed by a substantial margin in recent weeks, it’s only now that the Hash Ribbons are signaling that capitulation is starting across the mining industry.
Is This The Final Shakeout Before the Next Bitcoin Bull Run?
Miners with the highest production costs will be the first to turn off their rigs, which in turn caused mining difficulty to drop leveling out operating costs for those miners that remain.
This could lead to serious centralization in Bitcoin, however.
But Hash Ribbons signaling capitulation in miners historically wasn’t always a bad thing.
The last two instances of the occurrence resulted in large rallies, and during the last two Bitcoin bear to bull cycles, miners capitulated three times total before each new bull run began, with the third and final time each cycle being in close proximity to the halving.
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After that, the process doesn’t restart until a new all-time high is set, and a yet another bear cycle begins. Could this be what’s next for Bitcoin?