Exchanges Hold 16.5% of the Bitcoins, Coinbase 1st.

Exchanges Hold 16.5% of the Bitcoins, Coinbase 1st. 730 410 Crypto Rand Group
Bitcoins coinbase

Cryptocurrency exchanges store about 16% of the 21 million bitcoins on behalf of their customers, a majority by Coinbase. However, the crisis has had an effect on this capital. By February, this share had risen to 19%.

Exchanges remain key players in the crypto ecosystem and in particular in Bitcoin. According to a study conducted by The Block, crypto-currency exchanges currently hold 16.5% of all Bitcoins, or 3.08 million Bitcoins, led by Coinbase.

These companies do not, however, own the Bitcoins, but keep them in their vaults on behalf of their customers. Another observation: although this share of bitcoin is substantial, it is nevertheless in significant decline.

Bitcoin highly sought after by exchange customers

In February, before the globalisation of the Covid-19 crisis, trade accounted for approximately 19% of all bitcoins issued, or 3.43 million units. As a result, many customers have withdrawn Bitcoin in recent months.

In terms of market players, Coinbase remains far ahead of its competitors. The exchange holds 984,300 BTC, the study estimates. This is more than double that of its first rival, Huobi (413,000 BTC). The hierarchy then consists of Binance (318,000 BTC), OKEx (268,000 BTC) and BitMEX (217,000 BTC).

Thanks to their services, the exchanges remain central. And the crisis, which has since been followed by a sharp rise in the price of crypto-currencies, has not resulted in a massive withdrawal of Bitcoin. This is what Coinbase said at the beginning of March.

According to the company, within 48 hours the number of new users had doubled. Moreover, the deposits were increasing dramatically. “The customers of our retail brokerage company were buyers during the downturn, and Bitcoin was the big favorite,” Coinbase noted at the time.

Dark web trades lower in Exchange demands

Moreover, over the period, Bitcoin had emerged as the most sought-after asset among users, accounting for more than half of total deposits and trade. If there is one area, however, where exchanges are declining, it is that related to the dark web.

This is one of the conclusions of the Crystal Blockchain Analytics study published in May. The report explained this trend by the reduction in the use of crypto-money exchanges for criminal activities and the darknet.

On the other hand, actors involved in illicit activities have turned more heavily to more anonymous services such as mixers. As far as Bitcoin itself is concerned, it remains a major player in this sector.

The study found it “disturbing to note that darknet entities continue to increase the amount of Bitcoin (in real value and in USD) traded between them. These statistics indicate that Bitcoin continues to be a financial tool for darknet entities. »