Crypto
Bitcoin Miners Under Pressure as Fees Hit 10-Year Low
Bitcoin miner fees hit a 10-year low, but CryptoQuant says shrinking short-term holder supply signals Bitcoin's next rally.
27d ago 4,280
BLOCKINSIDERLoadingBitcoin miner fees hit a 10-year low, but CryptoQuant says shrinking short-term holder supply signals Bitcoin's next rally.
Bitcoin miners are going through one of their toughest periods in years as transaction fees have dropped to their lowest share of mining revenue since 2015.
However, CryptoQuant analysts believe the weakness may also be setting up the next Bitcoin rally towards $70K.
CryptoQuant analyst Axel Adler Jr. said transaction fees now account for just 0.71% of total Bitcoin miner revenue based on the 30-day moving average, the lowest reading since December 6, 2015, when the metric stood at 0.69%, and Bitcoin traded near $394.
The Bitcoin Miner chart shows that transaction fees have remained close to or below the 1% mark since mid-2025. This means miners are relying almost entirely on Bitcoin's block reward rather than fees paid by users.
Adler said that the comparison with 2015 should not be taken literally because Bitcoin's block reward has changed from 25 BTC then to 3.125 BTC today after several halving events.
According to the analyst, fee revenue needs to remain above 1% for a sustained period before it can be considered a meaningful contributor to mining profits again.
Mining profits have also been hurt by Bitcoin's sharp price decline over the past several months. Bitcoin has dropped from around $124,700 in October 2025 to nearly $63,600, a fall of almost 49%.
During the same period, the network's 7-day average hashrate declined from about 1,150 EH/s to 886 EH/s, a drop of roughly 23%.
While the fall in hashrate reflects weaker mining economics, Adler noted that the decline has been much smaller than Bitcoin's price correction.
The latest CryptoQuant chart shows the hashrate has been moving around 900 EH/s in recent weeks. Rather than collapsing, miners appear to be adjusting slowly by shutting down only the least profitable machines while stronger operators continue running.
This suggests the mining industry is adapting to lower profits instead of showing signs of panic.
While miners continue to struggle, another CryptoQuant analyst, Darkfost, pointed to an on-chain trend that has historically appeared near the end of bear markets.
Currently, coins held for less than one day account for 1.2% of the supply, followed by 2% for one day to one week, 5.6% for one week to one month, 6.7% for one to three months, and 8.1% for three to six months.
Darkfost explained that every newly purchased Bitcoin first becomes a short-term holding. When market demand is strong, the share of short-term holder supply rises quickly because new buyers enter the market. That usually happens near market tops.
Today's trend is moving in the opposite direction.
The declining share of short-term holders suggests fewer new buyers are entering, while more Bitcoin is gradually moving into the hands of long-term holders (LTHs) who are less likely to sell during market swings.
Meanwhile, Darkfost believes the current market is reaching another period of extreme investor disinterest. Historically, similar conditions have often appeared before demand returned and Bitcoin started a new uptrend.
Based on this setup, Darkfost expects Bitcoin to retest the $70,000 level, which the cryptocurrency has not traded above since June 2026. As of now, Bitcoin’s price is trading around $63,522, reflecting a drop of 1%, with a market cap hitting $1.27 trillion.
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