Centralized Exchanges Continue to Shed Bitcoin

Data compiled by Glassnode is showing that the number of Bitcoin (BTC) held on top crypto exchanges has steadily fallen since the violent mid-March crash that saw crypto prices tumble by 50% in a single day.

The sum of BTC held on exchanges currently sits at a little over 2.3 million — the lowest it has been since May 22, 2019.

As such, the percentage of BTC stored on centralized exchanges has dropped from 14.1% to 12.5%.

$3B in BTC removed from exchanges since March

The number of BTC stored on top crypto exchanges has fallen by approximately 300,000 since ‘Black Thursday' on March 12.

BTC price and number of Bitcoins held on exchanges: Glassnode

As such, approximately $3 billion worth of Bitcoin has left the exchanges two months, leaving $23 billion in BTC all up.

The vast majority of withdrawn funds have originated from BitMEX, Huobi, and Bitfinex — with Huobi and BitMEX shedding 100,000 Bitcoins each since March.

Twitter user Ceteris Paribus suggested that the massive sums of Bitcoin could be moving from futures markets, with BitMEX and Huobi ranking among the top derivatives platforms by volume.

Jernej also noted that Bitfinex’s CTO Paolo Ardoino had recently spoken of the exchange’s involvement in large over-the-counter transactions.

ETH balances approach all-time highs

While the number of BTC held by exchanges has dropped by 11.5% since March, Ethereum (ETH) balances have steadily increased since March 2018 — increasing from 5.8 million to 18.6 million over two years.

ETH price and number of Bitcoins held on exchanges: Glassnode

Nearly 17% of the total Ether supply is currently held on exchanges, valued at more than $4 billion.