550,000 BTC Worth $9.2 Billion Estimated to Have Left Exchanges in 2022

Out of BTC’s total set supply of 21 million tokens, over 19.2 million tokens are known to be currently in supply.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Siddharth Suvarna | Updated: 27 December 2022 18:49 IST

550,000 BTC Worth $9.2 Billion Estimated to Have Left Exchanges in 2022

Photo Credit: Pixabay/ Michael Wuensch

BTC value currently stands at $16,858 (roughly Rs. 13.9 lakh)

Highlights

Bitcoin’s last known all-time high was in November last year
Several BTC holders have chosen to keep asset custody with themselves
Cold wallets have become popular for BTC holdings this year

The market status of Bitcoin slipped drastically throughout this year. In a new report, Glassnode has estimated that around 550,000 Bitcoin have left the crypto exchanges in 2022. As per BTC's current value of $16,858 (roughly Rs. 13.9 lakh), BTC 550,000 amounts to $9.2 billion (roughly Rs. 76,760 crore). The on-chain analytics firm has said that the moved coins have landed in cold storages, which are non-Internet reliant crypto wallets, like hardware wallets or paper wallets.

Several promising crypto projects this year lost businesses and market stance. The collapse of Terra and FTX crypto exchange, for instance, emerged as crucial incidences that shaped the lacklustre year-end for the crypto sector this year.

In addition, back-to-back hacks on crypto exchanges, platforms, and protocols have shaken the trust factor of crypto investors, who want to prevent themselves from losing finances or personal details.

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In a bid to keep the custody of their crypto assets safeguarded against exchanges facing liquidity crunches and declaring bankruptcy — as well as — against being stolen by hackers — investors either moved their funds out to cold wallets, or simply withdrew the fiat in exchange of their crypto assets.

Out of BTC's total set supply of 21 million tokens, over 19.2 million tokens are known to be currently in supply.

As per Glassnode, BTC reserves stored on crypto exchanges is lesser than 12 percent of the BTC supply that is in circulation.

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In June, November, and December — now bankrupt FTX exchange, Binance, and Coinbase — reportedly lost 70,000 BTC, 90,000 BTC, and 200,000 BTC respectively.

Despite its ongoing slump, Bitcoin has not lost all fans.

Last week, a report by Indian exchange CoinSwitch had claimed that Bitcoin, along with Ether and Dogecoin, are popular crypto choices among Indian investors.

Analytic Insight also showed that BTC is the most popular cryptocurrency in the US.

Between November 2021 and 2022, BTC's value dropped from $68,000 (roughly Rs. 56 lakh) to $16,800 (roughly Rs. 13.9 lakh).

Supporters are yet not disappointed by the slump, hoping for better future for the crypto asset in the coming year.

“This year had the opportunity that taught investors to be safer and patient in terms of managing and storing their investments. For 2023 end, we are expecting a rise in the market, as new regulations are coming into place to make crypto a more secure space,” Kumar Gaurav, Founder and CEO of Cashaa, a crypto friendly neo bank told Gadgets 360.

Back in November, El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele had announced that the central American nation, would purchase one Bitcoin each day to reinstate faith in the asset.

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Glassnode

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More