Chapter Hut 8 CEO Discusses Banks' Interest in Buying Bitcoin from Miners

Hut 8's mining company CEO, Asher Genut, has spoken about major banks' interest in purchasing Bitcoin directly from "producers." DL News reports on this development.

"Banks have reached out to us, attempting to buy our bitcoins due to the shortage of supply of the leading cryptocurrency on exchanges," stated the head of Hut 8. According to him, these are "the largest banks you can imagine."

According to Bitcointreasuries, Hut 8 ranks fourth among the largest corporate Bitcoin holders after MicroStrategy, Marathon Digital, and Elon Musk's Tesla. The company holds 9110 coins (approximately $600 million at the current rate).

The shortage of bitcoins is believed to have arisen due to a surge in demand from exchange-traded funds. According to QryptoQuant, exchange-traded funds have accumulated 835,000 bitcoins worth $55 billion.

The largest holder of the leading cryptocurrency among ETFs remains Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) with 329,000 bitcoins on its balance sheet. It is followed by Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) from BlackRock, which acquired 256,000 bitcoins worth $14.3 billion within three months of its launch.

Against the backdrop of growing demand for Bitcoin from ETFs, the upcoming halving, which will halve the number of bitcoins mined by miners, could exacerbate supply shortages, according to Genut.

"A 50% reduction in supply, from 900 bitcoins to 450 bitcoins per day, also has a significant impact because now demand is rising while supply is shrinking," said the Hut 8 CEO. "It's a double blow in terms of increasing the price of Bitcoin," he added.

In a recent Bloomberg interview, Asher Genut stated that he does not anticipate a repeat of the mass bankruptcy of Bitcoin miners, as was the case in 2022. According to him, after the April Bitcoin halving, which will halve mining rewards, cryptocurrency mining investors will be interested in large operators with low production costs.

March 2024 marked a record level of miner income in the entire history of cryptocurrency. The previous maximum was reached in May 2021 when miners' aggregate income amounted to $1.74 billion.