Crypto Exchanges’ Reserves Plummet Following FTX Collapse

Many bitcoin (BTC) and ethereum (ETH) have been removed from crypto exchanges since the start of FTX’s collapse on November 5, 2022. According to data from cryptoquant.com, 356,848 BTC, or $6 billion using the current bitcoin exchange rates, have been removed since that day 51 days ago. The majority of bitcoin and ethereum withdrawals have occurred in the last two months.

As of December 26, 2022, 2,151,925 bitcoins are kept in controlled exchanges, according to cryptoquant.com analytics. On November 5, 51 days prior, there were roughly 2,508,773 bitcoins available on cryptocurrency trading platforms. Around 22,528,626 ether were kept on centralized exchanges on that day; today, there are 4.48 million fewer as 18,045,150 ether are held by exchanges.

Stablecoins on Crypto Exchanges Also Drying Up

Using current Bitcoin and Ethereum prices, approximately $11.5 billion was taken out of trading platforms. In addition to BTC and ETH, a significant amount of stablecoins have been removed from exchanges in the last 51 days. There was $35.2 billion in stablecoins like USDC and USDT held on trading platforms just days before FTX failed.

However, stablecoin holdings worth $7.6 billion have already been taken away. Although deposits of BTC have grown and withdrawals have significantly decreased since December 20, 2022, on-chain statistics also demonstrate that outflows from bitcoin exchanges fell to their lowest levels since June 2022. Withdrawals of Ethereum (ETH) also decreased on December 20, but haven’t really increased much since then. However, withdrawals from stablecoin continue.

The crypto economy had a value of almost $1.06 trillion on November 5 due to the large number of withdrawals that had occurred in just over two months, but it has subsequently dropped more than $246 billion to $815.56 billion.