Ethereum Outflows From Exchanges Hit 2022 Peak as ETH Price Surges

More than $500 million worth of Ethereum was withdrawn from cryptocurrency exchanges earlier this week, as traders look to hold on to their crypto in anticipation of bullish price action.

This is according to data shared by IntoTheBlock, a crypto market research firm, which shows that 180,000 ETH was withdrawn from exchanges on Tuesday. This figure represents the highest aggregated exchange withdrawal of ETH since October, the firm tweeted. At the time, the outflow of ETH preceded a 15% price increase for the cryptocurrency within 10 days. 

Likewise, ETH’s price has also been up following the recent massive outflow. Trading at approximately $2,500 on March 15, ETH has since surged to $2,934 at the time of writing. 

That’s a 17% increase over the week, making Ethereum the only top 10 crypto by market cap to see double-digit percentage gains besides Avalanche (AVAX).

Data from Chainalysis, a blockchain data platform, appears to corroborate IntoTheBlock’s analysis. It estimates that up to 352,317 ETH could have left exchanges on the same day, though the firm provides a very wide range for its data set. It’s worth noting, however, that Chainalysis has not estimated an outflow this large in at least six months.

According to the firm, such outflows would be considered a bullish market indicator. “Assets held on exchanges increase if more market participants want to sell than to buy, and if buyers choose to store their assets on exchanges,” it wrote. 

Of course, ETH’s gains in the context of the wider crypto market cannot be ignored. Every top 10 coin, besides Terra, has seen a price increase of at least 5% this week, particularly after the Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis point interest rate hike on Wednesday. Bitcoin, in particular, is up 8%. Bitcoin also saw a possible 39,000 BTC exchange outflow on Friday, amounting to about $1.6 billion.

IntoTheBlock also noted that about 190,000 ETH was deposited for staking using Lido, a service that lets users stake various assets on other chains, including Ethereum 2.0—the coming upgrade to Ethereum. The ETH 2.0 deposit contract now has over 10,000,000 ETH staked on it, amounting to over $27 billion in staked value.