There are at least 400,000 fewer Bitcoin on exchanges compared to the same time last year, a development that market intelligence platform Santiment views as a positive sign for the market.
Over 403,000 Bitcoin (BTC) have moved off exchanges since December 7, 2024, accounting for approximately 2% of the total supply, Santiment stated in an X post on Monday, referencing data from its sanbase dashboard.
Users commonly transfer their Bitcoin away from exchanges to cold storage wallets. This practice is believed to make selling more difficult and can indicate long-term intentions to hold the asset.
“In general, this is a positive long-term sign. The less coins exist on exchanges, the less likely we’ve historically seen a major sell-off that causes downside pressure for an asset’s price.”
Santiment further commented, “As Bitcoin's market value hovers around $90K, crypto’s top market cap continues to see its supply moving away from exchanges.”
Bitcoin Holdings Are Also Shifting into ETFs
While a significant portion of the Bitcoin leaving exchanges is likely returning to hodler wallets, Giannis Andreou, the founder and CEO of crypto miner Bitmern Mining, suggested that exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could also be acquiring these coins.
Citing data from BitcoinTreasuries.Net, Andreou noted that ETFs and public companies now collectively hold more Bitcoin than all exchanges combined. This trend follows years of outflows and a period where ETFs have been quietly accumulating assets in the background.
Andreou stated, “Institutional ownership has quietly crossed into a new phase: less liquid supply, more long-term holders, stronger price reflexivity, a market driven by regulated vehicles, not trading platforms.”
“This shift is bigger than people think. Bitcoin isn’t moving to exchanges anymore. It’s moving off them straight into institutions that don’t sell easily. The supply squeeze is building in real time.”
ETFs and Private Companies Hold More Bitcoin Than Exchanges
The cryptocurrency data analytics platform CoinGlass corroborates this trend, indicating that Bitcoin held on exchanges stood at approximately 2.11 million as of November 22. At that time, Bitcoin was undergoing a market correction and trading around $84,600.
BitBo's data indicates that ETFs hold over 1.5 million Bitcoin, and public companies hold more than one million Bitcoin. Combined, these holdings represent nearly 11% of the total Bitcoin supply.