More than 100,000 Bitcoin (BTC) have been transferred to self-custody storages since the beginning of the year, according to Glassnode data analyzed by CryptoSlate.
The chart below represents the amount of illiquid BTC with the orange line since the beginning of January.
According to the chart, the illiquid BTC supply was around 15 million at the beginning of the year. Throughout January, about 70,000 BTC moved to self-custody. This movement also continued during the first weeks of February, pushing the total illiquid BTC supply to over 15.1 million.
Illiquid supply change
The chart below represents the illiquid BTC supply change with the red and green zones, respectively. The green zones indicate that the movement toward self-custody storage is dominant, while the red areas signal the opposite.
BTC has been mostly moving to self-custody storage since the beginning of 2020, except for brief periods where an opposite flow was recorded. The most significant opposite movement was recorded in May 2021, while the second most aggressive movement toward exchanges was recorded in May 2022.
These movements coincide with significant bear markets in crypto history. During May 2021, BTC lost over 40% of its value, which motivated the investors to move their BTC onto exchanges, potentially to sell. According to the chart, over 250,000 BTC were transferred to exchanges at the time.
During the Terra collapse in May 2022, however, the movement toward exchanges was much smaller in comparison. Even though a certain number of investors pulled their BTC onto exchanges, the amount barely reached 100,000 BTC. This difference suggests that investors are more tempted to hold their positions instead of exiting in moments of fear.
