Definition. This chart compares the yearly rate of change of the aggregate Miner Balance to the volume of BTC mined over the same period, providing a relative measure of the amount of new issuance which was theoretically retained (absorbed) by miners (red columns), alongside price (grey).

Technical. The rate divides the 365-day change in miner balances by the growth of circulating supply over the same window:

• Miner Absorption Rate = diff(Miner Balance, 365) / diff(Circulating Supply, 365)

Miner balances aggregate all wallets attributed to miners and mining pools.

Interpretation. Absorption rates express cohort behavior relative to the pace of new issuance, which makes them comparable across halving epochs even as the mined volume shrinks:

• Values over 100% indicate that the cohort increased their aggregate balance by more than all coins mined in the past year, and thus acted as a net absorbing balance. Note that values over 100% are possible because coins can also be transferred from other investor cohorts (e.g. Whales to Shrimps, or Exchanges to Fish).

• Values near 0% indicate that the cohort's aggregate balance was approximately flat over the last year.

• Values below 0% indicate that the cohort's aggregate balance decreased over the past year, and was distributed alongside newly issued coins. Since miners are the original recipients of all newly issued coins, their absorption rate directly expresses treasury behavior: readings near 100% would mean miners retained essentially all coins mined over the year, readings near 0% mean mined coins were sold on at roughly the pace of issuance, and negative readings mean miners drew down pre-existing treasuries on top of selling new issuance.

Notes. First featured in the research report The Shrimp Supply Sink: Revisiting the Distribution of Bitcoin Supply. Companion charts cover the other cohorts: Shrimp and Fish, Fish and Sharks, Whales and Sharks and Exchanges. Built from Miner Balance and Circulating Supply.