Bitcoin Exchange Outflows Are Rising

Bitcoin held on to the price level of $47,000 on Thursday despite the pressure of profit-taking. BTC exchange flow, an indicator that highlights the difference between the supply and demand of the world’s leading cryptocurrency on trading platforms, has seen immense volatility in the past few weeks.

Yesterday, the difference between Bitcoin exchange outflows and inflows surged substantially. According to Glassnode, a prominent on-chain analytics platform, approximately $2.1 billion worth of BTC moved away from exchanges, compared to the inflows of $1.2 billion.

Bitcoin whale movements are playing a major role in the latest surge. Whale Alert recently highlighted the movement of 2,000 Bitcoin worth more than $94 million from Coinbase to an unknown wallet. BTC balance on prominent exchanges has been plunging since the start of 2021.

Coinbase is one of the worst-hit digital exchanges in the recent trend. According to Glassnode, the BTC balance on Coinbase has declined by more than 36% since April 2020. During the second week of March 2022, crypto whale accounts moved nearly 30,000 Bitcoin away from Coinbase.

Bitcoin Balance

“Large outflows are actually part of a consistent trend in the Coinbase balance, which has been stair-stepping downwards over the last two years. As the largest exchange by BTC balance, and a preferred venue for US-based institutions, this further supports the adoption of Bitcoin as a macro asset by larger institutions,” Glassnode mentioned in a recent report.

BTC is not the only digital currency that saw a jump in exchange outflows. Ethereum, the world’s second-most valuable cryptocurrency, also witnessed a similar trend. Earlier this week, net daily ETH exchange flows reached -$1 billion. On 29 March, ETH exchange outflows touched $1.8 billion, compared to the inflows of $793 million.

However, net exchange flows related to Tether (USDT) have turned positive in the past 24 hours.