MARA and Riot Accounted for 56% of 2026's Public Company Bitcoin (BTC) Sales

Two Miners Behind Half of 2026's Sales

Publicly listed companies have offloaded 108,247 Bitcoin (BTC) worth roughly $8.08 billion so far in 2026, and a single corner of the market did most of it. MARA Holdings and Riot Platforms, two of the largest names in crypto mining, together sold 60,845 coins, about 56% of the corporate total, according to on-chain analytics firm Lookonchain, whose tally runs through November 10. MARA led every seller with 40,581 BTC valued at approximately $3.03 billion, while Riot followed at 20,264 BTC worth $1.51 billion and Bitdeer Technologies ranked third with 10,553 BTC, or $787 million. Lookonchain's figures put MARA's average exit at $74,446 per coin, close to where the Bitcoin price stands today, against an average of $73,231 for Riot. The rest of the list is almost entirely miners. Cango sold 7,001 BTC for $522 million, CleanSpark 5,715 BTC for $426 million, Core Scientific 3,374 BTC for $252 million, Empery Digital 3,170 Bitcoin (BTC) and Keel, the former Bitfarms, 3,169 BTC. Hut 8 Mining and HIVE Digital added 3,102 and 3,056 BTC respectively, while IREN, Cipher, Sequans and KULR closed the tally with sales between 1,097 and 2,774 BTC. All fourteen names trade on public equity markets, which places the selling inside TradFi rather than crypto-native funds, and the unwind has become the year's defining Bitcoin treasury story: miners are raising cash for debt service and construction, not adding to holdings, in a year when several listed miners have spent heavily on artificial intelligence and data center infrastructure.

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The selling has landed in a soft market. Our composite scoring places the strongest support directly under spot: $74,192, scored 100 out of 100, with the last quote at $74,282 at the time of writing. Resistance at $78,046, scored 94 out of 100, is the first ceiling overhead. The daily trend reads bearish, RSI sits at 35.22 and the Fear & Greed Index is at 32, in fear territory. Perpetual funding runs at 0.0048% and the long/short account ratio is 3.31, so the leverage book still leans long. Full level scores sit on our Bitcoin technical analysis page.

MARA's Debt Paydown and Riot's Data Centers

MARA's own disclosures explain where the proceeds went. In its third-quarter shareholder letter, published November 9, the company said it sold approximately 26,984 Bitcoin (BTC) for $1.9 billion across the first nine months of 2026, then another 13,597 BTC after the end of September at an average near $81,039, adding $1.1 billion. Some $750 million of that went to repay loans backed by its coin holdings, which freed 17,477 BTC previously pledged as collateral. MARA had borrowed against its balance sheet to fund the planned Long Ridge acquisition, a natural gas power business tied to its energy build-out, and total debt is down $1.4 billion, or 37%, since the start of the year. The miner, whose shares trade under the MARA ticker, began allowing sales of newly produced coins in 2025 and extended the policy this year to coins held on its balance sheet, a retreat from the never-sell posture tied to Bitcoin maximalism and from the accumulation model behind the strategic Bitcoin reserve playbook. Management intends to keep monetizing holdings for AI infrastructure spending, potential share repurchases and upcoming debt obligations. Riot Platforms, whose shares trade under the RIOT ticker, has taken the same route, selling 20,264 BTC in the first nine months of 2026 for roughly $1.5 billion to finance data center development. It ended September with 2,418 BTC valued near $202 million alongside $748.2 million in cash, restricted funds included. Its build-out includes a $9.1 billion agreement covering 191 megawatts at the Rockdale facility in Texas and a separate 15-year lease for 910 megawatts at Corsicana, with about $38 billion in expected revenue across contracted agreements over their initial terms. Keel Infrastructure shut its United States mining operations in June to redirect its American power portfolio toward AI and high-performance computing, had sold 1,085 BTC for $75 million by August, and reported second-quarter revenue down 50% year over year at $30.4 million. An August analysis by BlocksBridge Consulting counted $5.11 billion of capital spending by nine public miners in the first half of 2026, against $341.2 million of reported AI and high-performance computing revenue. What remains on Riot's balance sheet after nine months of selling is 2,418 BTC.