So far, a small number of miners have reported an inability to meet loan obligations. Nevertheless, the increase in bitcoin sales from reserves suggests that their situation is further complicated. Core Scientific sold more than 2,000 bitcoins in May to meet current operational needs, and Bitfarms liquidated half of its mined coins to partially pay off a $100 million loan from Galaxy Digital. At the same time, the company took out another loan secured by equipment from New York Digital Investment Group.

Analysts predict that if the current market situation persists, the miners' situation could worsen. First, the sale of bitcoin reserves puts additional pressure on the price of the cryptocurrency. In addition, equipment will also continue to fall in price if lenders start liquidating it to cover losses caused by insolvent borrowers. For example, the price of Bitmain's Antminer S19 miner is down 47% from its November highs of about $10,000.

"Bitcoin miners, broadly speaking, are in pain," said Luka Jankovic, head of lending at Galaxy Digital. - Returns for many miners at current levels have become negative. Equipment prices are falling and have yet to stop, compounded by volatile electricity prices and limited space to place equipment."

Bitcoin mining has been one of the most profitable businesses during the rise of the crypto market, with margins as high as 90%. Traditional lenders, however, often refused to lend money to miners to upgrade equipment or set high interest rates given the volatility of the cryptocurrency market. To meet miners' demand, cryptocurrency lending services, including Galaxy Digital, NYDIG, BlockFi, Celsius Network, Foundry Networks and Babel Finance, began offering loans secured by equipment. Collateral for such agreements has now been significantly reduced.

Many bitcoin miners are making substantial profits even at the current price of the cryptocurrency - estimates based on the average price of electricity and the power consumption of new models of equipment suggest that the cost of mining one bitcoin for large firms should be around $8,000.

"But declining revenues are affecting their business anyway, because many of them have to pay off loans and post collateral for equipment purchases," said Arcane Crypto analyst Jaran Mellerud. - "It can be difficult for them to handle those obligations without selling a significant portion of their bitcoin reserves.

On the other hand, with overhead, the cost of mining bitcoin for some miners has already exceeded $20,000, according to Securitize Capital CEO Wilfred Day. Miners who ordered expensive equipment months ago in anticipation of its price rise and are now suffering losses are in a particularly difficult position.

"The miners thought conditions would be better for raising capital at this stage," said Ethan Vera, co-founder of the mining company Luxor Technologies. - They ordered tens of thousands of devices, signed agreements to host them, made deposits, and now can't keep up with their commitments."

Compass Mining Chief Content Officer Will Foxley said the cost of raising capital has risen critically, while there are fewer and fewer offers for miners:

"Bitcoin collapsed, then the equipment collapsed, because people don't want to use it. That said, there are still huge volumes of bids where equipment has yet to be delivered."