Who’s Stuffing Bitcoin Under Their Mattresses?

Updated: 09 February 2023

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Blockchain analytical firm Santiment has revealed that since the value of Bitcoin (BTC) crossed the $23K mark, its existing supply has been moving to self-custody.

💸 #Bitcoin's existing supply continues moving to self-custody as prices range at $23k here in early February. There is now $416.5B in $BTC sitting away from exchanges, and $29.2B in $BTC on exchanges. So there is 14.26x the coins off exchanges vs. on. https://t.co/MU4UAUY5Mv pic.twitter.com/oZYoSf6tgY

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) February 7, 2023

The revelation comes after almost $300 million worth of Bitcoin was withdrawn from smaller exchanges in the past week, based on a CryptoSlate analysis of Glassnode data. From the analysis, Gate.io recorded the highest volume of withdrawals during that timeframe, recording up to $120 million leaving the exchange.

Bitcoin Net Reansfers — **Source**: *Glassnode*

Coming in second after Gate.io were crypto exchange Bithumb, which witnessed up to $60 million in customer withdrawals.

Bitcoin on BitHumb — **Source**: *Glassnode*

Crypto exchange Luno followed Bithumb with $45 million exiting the platform as customers withdrew their BTC holdings.

BTC Net Transfer Volume On Luno — **Source**: *GlassNode*

Notably, the Bitcoin withdrawals were not limited to the smaller exchanges alone, as Coinglass’ data also revealed that the amount of BTC on exchanges dipped in the past week. The largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, saw its balance reduced by 4,726 BTC over the past seven days, while Coinbase and Kraken plummeted by 1,961 BTC and 1,384 BTC, respectively.

Further corroborating the data was Santiment, the blockchain analytical firm, which said, “Bitcoin’s existing supply has been moving to self-custody since the asset’s price crossed above $23,000 in the first week of February.”

Santiment also noted that there are only 1.47 million BTC on exchanges, which is the lowest amount since November 2018.

Bitcoin Supply Off Exchages — **Source**: *Santiment*

Santiment further said:

There is now $416.5 billion in BTC sitting away from exchanges, and $29.2 billion in BTC on exchanges.

It is worth mentioning that investors in the cryptocurrency industry increasingly favored self-custody since the fall of crypto firm FTX last year.

As Bitcoin Nears 25K, Questions About Rally’s Sustainability Remain

While the global economy continued to weaken across 2022, the U.S. Government hit its ‘debt ceiling’ on January 19, when the total sum of money that the United States Treasury could borrow for funding ongoing federal operations reached its peak. The cap caused renewed concerns about more financial struggles and the dawn of a new economic slowdown.

In the same way, across the Atlantic, the U.K. has had a hard time as up to 22,109 companies suffered insolvencies in 2022 alone, representing a 57% increase from the previous year and the highest rate since 2009. Beyond that, a recent report by the International Monetary Fund suggested that the United Kingdom would be the only G-7 nation to face a recession in 2023.

In the wind of all this devastation, the cryptocurrency market has had to find propulsion over the last month, surging in total market cap by 32% from $828 billion to around $1.1 trillion. With a particular interest in Bitcoin, the flagship cryptocurrency, which rose to $24K on January 30 after stagnating around the $16,500 range for most of November and December.

Recently, Bitcoin’s total market cap soared as high as 44.82%, the highest level since June 2022. As a speedy remedy, this number often surges steeply when investors begin limiting their exposure to altcoins and pouring their capital back into BTC.

Analysis Of Market Sentiment

During the last week of January alone, digital asset investment products in the market saw up to $117 million in cumulative capital inflow, the most significant amount in a 180-day stretch, with investors putting funds mostly into BTC-related offerings.

Moreover, digital investment product volume continued surging until it neared the $1.3 billion market on January 30, which was a 17% increase compared to BTC’s year-to-date value. Nevertheless, short-Bitcoin products witnessed monetary inflows worth $4.4 million, a worrying sign for investor sentiment based on Coinshares’ researchers.

On the other hand, multi-asset investment vehicles witnessed money draining for the third month in a row, with the outflows totaling $6.4 million. With this, Coinshares data points to more investors beginning to embrace the tried and tested cryptocurrency assets.

In closing, the crypto fear and greed index currently stands at 60, indicating “greed.” This tool helps investors measure movements and sentiments in the cryptocurrency markets.