Crypto's Brutal Winter: Staggering Amount Of Bitcoin Gets Removed From Exchanges

Amid an extended crypto winter, some 44,444 Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) have been taken off exchanges in the last month, according to statistics from Coinglass.

That's a staggering $745 million.

Investors continue to express concern about the reeling crypto market, which was made worse by the FTX (CRYPTO: FTT) scandal and the drama surrounding its disgraced founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

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“The collapse of FTX and revelations of billions of dollars of investors' money being stolen by a white-collared individual (Sam Bankman-Fried) who was known to be close to lawmakers, has eroded the trust of people in centralized exchanges and they do not seem to think that their cryptos are safe there,” Noel Saldanha, an independent crypto analyst, told Benzinga.

Regulatory concerns surrounding crypto exchange Binance (CRYPTO: BNB) have only exacerbated the concerns and people are now experiencing the adage “not your keys, not your coins,” Saldanha added.

The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly investigating Binance and specific individuals related to the firm, including its CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao.

Prosecutors are split on whether to pursue the case vigorously or wait to review further evidence.

Glassnode announced at the beginning of November that the FTX collapse had caused investors in Bitcoin to move their holdings to self-custody at a "historic rate of 106k" each month.

Following the collapse of FTX, #Bitcoin investors have been withdrawing coins to self-custody at a historic rate of 106k $BTC/month.

This compares with only three other times:
- Apr 2020
- Nov 2020
- June-July 2022https://t.co/92aYVYU4Yt pic.twitter.com/em7CsDBWUf

— glassnode (@glassnode) November 13, 2022

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