Users have moved over 310,000 bitcoins from exchanges since mid-March
Over 310,000 bitcoins have been moved from cryptocurrency exchanges since March 12, 2020, a date that has earned the moniker “Black Thursday.”
Blockchain data shows the withdrawals from the exchanges amount to the longest consecutive run ever of users removing their assets off an exchange. Analysis platform Glassnode notes that the largest outflows are concentrated on three major exchanges: Bitfinex, Huobi and BitMEX.
According to data from the platform, Bitfinex has seen 126,845 bitcoins moved off the exchange, with Huobi and BitMEX seeing 95,496 and 95,438 bitcoins respectively from their platforms. Other exchanges that have seen users move huge holdings include Bitstamp, Kraken and Bittrex.
In total, the 310k bitcoins that have left exchanges since that turbulent day in March, are worth over $2.7 billion at current prices.
On January 3 2019, Trace Mayer inaugurated the “Proof of Keys” day, which encouraged users to move their Bitcoin off exchanges, with the mantra “not your keys not your Bitcoin.”
The event didn’t gain the traction Mayer hoped for, but still highlighted the view that crypto holdings are not the safest places to store crypto holdings.
While users routinely move their assets from exchanges, the backdrop to the transfer of over 310,000 bitcoins from centralised crypto exchanges, most likely into cold storage, are correlated with the massive liquidations seen on Bitmex in March.
On a day of massive liquidations on derivatives platforms like Bitmex, the top cryptocurrency’s value dropped by 50% overnight. While Bitcoin has since recovered from the blow, users appear to have decided to move their crypto off exchanges. It could also be investors are intent on hodling until prices surge to new highs, as predicted by several analysts.