The volume of Bitcoin on cryptocurrency exchanges is down by 70% since the Black Thursday retreat earlier last month.
Bitcoin Reserve Down By 70% on Exchanges
Several cryptocurrency exchanges have been reporting a decrease in their Bitcoin reserves since the Black Thursday retreat of March 12, when the cryptocurrency market experienced a massive bearish trend. Crypto exchange Bitmex, revealed that its Bitcoin reserve is currently down by 36% over the last month.
By the end of January, seven crypto exchanges controlled more than $25 billion worth of BTC, USDT, and other stablecoins. However, market uncertainty has seen that number drop dramatically over the past few weeks. Evidently, investors have been withdrawing their BTC reserves and stashing them in non-custodial platforms or selling them.
The most significant transfer of BTC from crypto exchanges occurred on March 12, the day before Black Thursday. On that day, Bitmex was holding around 306,000 BTC, but it has since dropped and now stands at 228,000 BTC. As such, Bitmex customers withdrew 36% of the BTC in the exchange’s reserves and transferred them to other platforms or sold them.
According to recent data, Coinbase still holds more than 1 million BTCs despite withdrawals of the cryptocurrency from the platform. However, the value of Coinbase’s BTC reserve has dropped dramatically. By the end of January, Coinbase held BTC worth around $8.57 billion, but the figure has now dropped to $6.92 billion.
Huobi is another exchange to have lost some of its BTC stashes. The crypto exchange has seen nearly a 10% dip in its Bitcoin reserve, from 469,000 BTC to 425,000 within a month. Binance, which is the third-largest exchange of BTC reserve, hasn’t recorded much movement of the cryptocurrency. Contrary to the others, Binance’s BTC reserve is up by 0.32% over the past one month.
Bitfinex is another exchange that suffered a significant drain of BTC as it lost 29% of its stash since January 25. By the end of January, Bitfinex was the fifth largest exchange in terms of BTC reserve but it has since lost that position to Okex. Bitfinex occupies the sixth position with $1.85 billion worth of BTC, and it is closely followed by Kraken’s $1.29 billion.
Bitstamp Hit the Hardest
Perhaps the biggest loser from this carnage is Bitstamp, which lost 72% of its BTC stash over the past few weeks. At the end of January, Bitstamp held 242,000 BTC, but the exchange now holds only 66,000 BTC.
Kraken, while occupying the seventh place, also recorded a massive fall in its Bitcoin reserve. The exchange lost 24% of its BTC reserve after seeing its stash drop from 173,000 BTC to 130,000 BTC within the space of eight weeks.
Some exchanges recorded increases in their Bitcoin reserves during this period. Bittrex, Bitflyer, and Gemini have all experienced a surge in their Bitcoin stash in recent weeks, with all of them holding over 70,000 BTC individually in their wallets.
The seven cryptocurrency exchanges that held more than $25 billion worth of Bitcoin, Tether, and other stablecoins have seen their holdings drop to $21 billion within a few weeks. The decline in Bitcoin price continues to affect the exchanges, and this has led to the $4 billion shortfalls in their holdings over the past three months.