Key facts:
-
In May, more than 1 million addresses had at least 1 BTC deposited.
-
The SEC situation against some cryptocurrency exchanges has accentuated withdrawals.
Bitcoin (BTC) levels on exchanges reached a low point, not seen in more than 5 years. In the same period, the number of active bitcoin addresses has doubled.
The financial analysis company Santiment sample that by 2020 more than 16% of all bitcoins issued so far were deposited in exchanges. While, by June 2023, this figure is only 6.4%. This means a reduction of more than 50% in relation to the total supply.
For the date, less than 2 million BTC They are deposited in the exchanges —similar figure as in 2018— while for 2020 the figure reached an all-time high, exceeding 3 million BTC.
Despite the drop in exchange deposits, between 2018 and 2023 the number of active Bitcoin users has increased. According to glassnode, for May 2018 the average number of active addresses in Bitcoin was close to 500 thousand. Figure that contrasts with that of April 2023, close to a million. In addition to this, it was also known that in May 2023 more than 1 million addresses own at least 1 BTC.
Glassnode counts as active addresses those that have received or sent any amount of BTC, and it has been confirmed within the blockchain.
The fall of exchanges has marked this trend
the analytics company Cryptoquant shows steep declines in exchanges’ bitcoin reserves. One of the steepest falls coincides with the crisis from the FTX exchangewhich occurred in November 2022. At that time, exchange reserves went from 2.5 million BTC to about 2.2 million. A reduction of more than 10% in just 10 days.
On a closer look, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuits against the Binance and Coinbase exchanges have impacted this exchange’s reserves. He graphic from Cryptoquant shows that between June 5 (the date the lawsuit against Binance was filed) and the time of publication, reserves have fallen 2%, due to possible fears of freezing funds.
Lawsuits against exchanges have generated some uncertainty among investors, as there is a possibility that regulators will freeze assets, making withdrawals impossible and causing millions in losses. The SEC advanced a request to freeze the funds of Binance US, however, it was dismissed by a court.
Likewise, CriptoNoticias reported that the exchanges presented withdrawals for more than 80 thousand BTC on June 5 and 7, representing a negative cash flow (more withdrawals than deposits). Therefore, it can be estimated that a large part of the withdrawals were made to private addresses and not to other exchanges.
In Bitcoin there is a maxim that says “if they are not your keys, they are not your bitcoins”. By storing private keys in your own wallet, being the hardware wallet the most secure, it is basically impossible to be prone to government seizures or seizures. Only those who have access to the private keys will have access to the bitcoins.
