According to Viewbase, as of the end of September 2021, 1.42M bitcoin ($BTC) or about 6.6% of the circulating supply of bitcoin is held on centralized exchanges.
This represents a 1.5% decline from August 2021 pointing to a significant number of users holding their funds on private wallets.
The current amount of bitcoin on centralized exchanges also happens to be one of the lowest in history.
The highest amount of BTC held on centralized exchanges in the last 3 – 6 months was the 1, 580, 158 BTC recorded in July 2021
Here is a breakdown of coins held on leading exchanges:
- Coinbase – 603K BTC
- Binance – 317K BTC
- Bitfinex- 189K BTC
- Huobi – 100K BTC
- OKEX – 53K BTC
- Bitflyer – 49K BTC
- Other exchanges – 100K BTC
Noteworthy is that Coinbase and Binance hold more BTC than other crypto exchanges combined: 915K BTC vs 454K BTC.
Bitcoin leaving centralized exchanges generally signals market accumulation (demand) of the flagship cryptocurrency.
On the other hand, more bitcoin on centralized exchanges signals low demand for the asset.
Inflows may indicate intention to sell, outflows may indicate intention to hold.
In September 2021, The People’s Bank of China (PBoC) indicated that all crypto-related activities are illegal in the country. Following this pronoucement, major exchanges have stopped operations and seen a dramatic drop in user activity.
Some of the activities now banned in China include:
- Offering trading of digital assets
- Order matching
- Token issuance
- Crypto derivatives
In addition, overseas crypto exchanges providing services in mainland China are also illegal, the PBoC said.
This news however has not had a drastic effect on bitcoin held on crypto held on exchanges.
The announcement by the Chinese Central Bank was intended to “cut off payment channels, dispose of relevant websites and mobile applications in accordance with the law.”
The news however led to the price of bitcoin falling to about $40, 000.
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