Blockchain tracker Lookonchain attributes about $82.8 million of bitcoin deposits on Binance and Gate to wallets tied to MARA Holdings, the biggest bitcoin miner listed in the U.S. A Galaxy Digital-linked address received 996 coins earlier in the month. On-chain records show where coins went, not whether they were sold.
The biggest public bitcoin miner is moving coins toward places where they can be sold.
Over five days, 1,000 bitcoin, worth about $82.8 million, landed on the Binance and Gate exchanges from wallets that Lookonchain, a blockchain tracker, links to MARA Holdings. It is the company's second large transfer in October. Around Oct. 9, 996 bitcoin moved from MARA-linked wallets to an address associated with Galaxy Digital.
Together the two transfers total about 1,996 bitcoin, worth about $165 million at current prices.
What MARA has said about selling
MARA held 35,577 bitcoin at the end of June, including 9,270 that were loaned out or pledged as collateral, according to its second-quarter shareholder letter. Second-quarter sales totaled 2,213 bitcoin at an average of $73,078, and the company told shareholders it expects "to continue to monetize bitcoin opportunistically." A larger disposal came in March, when 15,133 bitcoin were sold to repurchase convertible notes.
The 1,000 bitcoin moved in the past five days equal about 2.8% of the company's June holdings.
What a transfer means
Sending bitcoin to an exchange is consistent with selling it. It can also be consistent with posting collateral, rebalancing custody or other treasury moves. Blockchain data show where coins went, not what happened to them afterward. MARA has not commented on the transfers, and confirmation would come in its next disclosure of holdings or its third-quarter report.
Bitcoin rose about 2% overnight, so the deposits did not visibly weigh on the price. MARA shares fell 9.6% on Friday to $7.53, a decline that came with a broad selloff in AI and crypto stocks before the transfers were reported.
The miner supply question
MARA is not alone. Lookonchain also tracked 1,589 bitcoin moving from Hut 8-linked wallets to exchanges over two days through Oct. 16. Public miners have been shifting capacity toward AI and high-performance computing, which requires capital, and some have funded that shift and debt reduction by selling bitcoin from their treasuries.
That adds a source of supply at a time when spot bitcoin ETFs are seeing net outflows, about $229 million last week. Two MARA transfers and the Hut 8 move add up to roughly $300 million of bitcoin moved toward exchanges this month.
Market implications
One reading is that MARA is converting bitcoin into cash to pay for its AI expansion and its debt, which is what its shareholder letter said it might do. On that view, miners are a steady seller that the market has to absorb.
A second reading is that the transfers are collateral or custody moves. MARA has lent and pledged a large share of its holdings, and moving coins to exchanges does not by itself reduce what it owns.
A third reading is that the amounts are routine. A transfer equal to under 3% of holdings may simply reflect sales of newly mined coins.
What to watch
MARA's next disclosure of its holdings and its third-quarter results; whether the deposited coins leave the exchanges; further miner transfers tracked on-chain; and the company's net asset value per share. A disclosed sale near current prices would confirm that miners are adding to supply.