Over 18M BTC Have Been Taken off Exchanges, the Largest Ever Witnessed

The recent development highlights the growing rate at which investors take their bitcoin off exchanges.

Bitcoin’s circulating supply domiciled off exchanges currently sits at 18.19M tokens, the largest amount ever witnessed. The current data is the product of a growing trend of BTC withdrawals from centralized exchanges, which surged drastically following the FTX collapse of last month. In contrast, only 1.16M BTC tokens are currently situated in exchanges.

Crypto analytics service Santiment recently drew public attention to the development. According to data from Santiment, BTC supply off exchanges has persistently reached all-time highs in the past few months, with the current supply of 18.19M tokens being the latest ATH. 

On the contrary, BTC supply on exchanges has been persistently declining, as the latest value of 1.16M represents its lowest amount since November 2018. This underscores a mass withdrawal of BTC off exchanges, which picked up following the FTX crash, as investors’ confidence in centralized exchanges declined. Investors are now leaning towards self-custody.

“Illustrated is the 10-year long-term view of Bitcoin’s funds moving on and off exchanges. The amount of coins in self custody continues creating a new AllTimeHigh, now at 18.2M $BTC. Meanwhile, coins on exchanges is at just 1.2M $BTC, a 4-year low,” Santiment revealed in a tweet Thursday. 

? Illustrated is the 10-year long term view of #Bitcoin's funds moving on and off exchanges. The amount of coins in self custody continues creating a new #AllTimeHigh, now at 18.2M $BTC. Meanwhile, coins on exchanges is at just 1.2M $BTC, a 4-year low. https://t.co/HiPDu55vuo pic.twitter.com/v2G1TmZdLL

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) December 22, 2022

BTC’s On-Chain Indicators are Bullish

The mass withdrawal of BTC from exchanges is also a bullish sign, as investors often deposit their assets and keep them on exchanges when there is an intention to sell them off. In contrast, taking one’s assets off exchanges often indicates intentions to hold them for an extended period.

Meanwhile, the CryptoQuant BTC Exchange Reserve indicator is promising, as a patent decrease in exchanges’ reserves indicates lowered selling pressure. The metric further corroborates the Santiment data.

Furthermore, most BTC on-chain indicators signal bullish trends despite the prevailing downturn. The Binary CDD indicates a low long-term holders’ movement. At the same time, the Adjusted SOPR (aSOPR) metric reveals that investors are selling at a loss, which could indicate a market bottom during a bear market. 

Notwithstanding, Peter Brandt, veteran trader and CEO of trading firm Factor LLC, recently passed a cryptic message that might have forecasted a BTC dip below $10K before a surge to $120K. As of press time, BTC is changing hands at $16,837, up 1% in the past 24 hours.