Crypto Biz: Mining weakness tests Bitcoin’s market cycle
Bitcoin miners face record margin pressure as proxy stocks sink, Kalshi lands $1B funding and Ether derivatives volumes overtake Bitcoin on CME.
Bitcoin (BTC) miners are learning the hard way that “number go up” doesn’t always trickle down. Even with Bitcoin prices still elevated by historical standards, mining margins have been sharply squeezed, with some industry analysts describing the current climate as the “harshest margin environment” on record. Balance sheets are shrinking, leverage is being reduced, and companies such as CleanSpark are moving to pay down Bitcoin-backed credit lines.
The strain is spilling into public markets. Bitcoin miners and other BTC “proxy” trades have come under heavy pressure, highlighted by the collapse in shares of American Bitcoin.
Not every corner of the market is retreating, however. Capital is flowing into crypto-adjacent platforms, with prediction market Kalshi recently raising $1 billion at an $11-billion valuation after a tenfold increase in trading volumes since 2024, overtaking Polymarket.
