More than $220 million worth of bitcoin left centralized exchanges in the days after the May 11 halving event. Glassnode's analysis of exchange flows shows that 24,000 BTC moved to self-custody, conti
More than $220 million worth of bitcoin left centralized exchanges in the days after the May 11 halving event. Glassnode's analysis of exchange flows shows that 24,000 BTC moved to self-custody, continuing an outflow pattern that began in April.
The halving itself triggered no change in behavior. "In the hours before and after Bitcoin's halving, exchange net flow decreased significantly," Glassnode reported May 13. "So far, the event has had no impact on 2020's trend of investors withdrawing BTC from exchanges."
Three exchanges lost substantial reserves since April. Users withdrew roughly 20,000 BTC from Huobi starting April 12. Bitfinex's holdings fell from 205,000 BTC in mid-April to 134,000 today, a loss of 71,000 coins. BitMEX held 228,000 BTC when prices crashed 50% in March but has since dropped to roughly 214,000.
Over 24 hours, three exchanges showed the largest reserve movements: Binance fell 1.66%, Bitfinex fell 1.52%, Kraken fell 1.00%.
The ten largest exchanges still hold massive reserves. Their combined balance tops 2.3 million bitcoin, representing roughly 14% of the entire bitcoin supply and worth around $21.7 billion at current prices. Coinbase leads with 970,247 BTC. Huobi holds 358,093. OKEX maintains 259,474. Binance carries 174,848. Kraken stores 130,727. Bitstamp has 124,894. Bittrex holds 113,159. Bitfinex keeps 77,490. BitFlyer manages 74,059. Poloniex has 46,665.
Trace Mayer promoted moving coins from exchange wallets in 2019 during what he called Proof-of-Keys day. His argument centered on exchange vulnerability: they suffer hacks and can collapse entirely, as Mt.Gox and QuadrigaCX demonstrated. The principle spread among advocates: if you don't hold your keys, you don't own your coins.
