Ethereum miners are holding 920,000 eth, worth $1.7 billion, according to the blockchain analytics startup Santiment.

They have been accumulating since May 2021 after a sell-off from 1.1 million eth in October 2020 to 735,000 eth.

Since then they’ve added about 200,000 eth to their reserves in the past year, worth $360 million.

Bitcoin miners in contrast have been selling for the past two years, while eth miners seem to be holding more.

That’s potentially to get ready for Proof of Stake where network security is provided by locking 32 eth per validator with a 5% APR in eth.

Miners therefore might hold more of their asset to secure long term income through staking even as their GPU gear becomes worthless.

Thus we might see a smooth transition, with this increase in holdings also potentially reducing market supply, so cushioning to some extent ethereum’s price.

The ratio keeps falling however to now 0.059 bitcoin, down from 0.088 BTC last winter.

Yet at least miners themselves don’t seem to be contributing negatively to that ratio re-pricing, with it to be seen whether they head off to above one million in reserves prior to the merge.