Two transactions of 50,000,000 (USDT) have been transferred out of Bitfinex and into the Tether Treasury, according to transfer receipts from Whale Alert.
Both transactions took place on Oct. 2, 2023, each two minutes apart from one another. The first lump sum of 500,000,000 (USDT) was at 09:43:23 UTC, and at the time worth roughly $50,039,125 USD. The second was at 09:45:03 UTC with a worth of roughly $50,038,875 USD.
According to data from CryptoQuant, stablecoin holdings in exchanges have been on a steady decline over the past year beginning around November 2022.
Stablecoin holdings on exchange reservces 2023. Source: CryptoQuant
Prior to the decline, around the beginning of 2021, stablecoin holdings on crypto exchanges hit a new all-time high (ATH), with coins like (USDT) flooding in.
These new market conditions have spurred comments from the crypto community on X, who have responded to the massive transfers calling the situation a “pump.” This refers to pumping a stock or in this case a specific token, to entice investors towards that particular asset.
However, the market intelligence platform Santiment posted on Sep. 29 about the current trends in the market including a remark that Tether “sharks and whales” are gaining buying power, which it said is “generally a bullish combination.”
#Bitcoin’s sharks & whales, which we define as 10 to 10K $BTC wallets, have now accumulated to their highest amount held in 2023 (13.03M $BTC). Additionally #Tether sharks & whales are accumulating buying power. This is generally a #bullish combination. https://t.co/Lic2QBXSUw pic.twitter.com/dIcq1sUNJY
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) September 28, 2023
Related: Tether reportedly shuts USDT redemption for some Singapore customers
According to Cointelegraph’s own analysis, stablecoins have been experiencing a 17-month decline, with investors moving to more traditional assets.
This comes as the Federal Reserve in the United States, a place that has already had a rocky relationship with stablecoins, on Sept. 28 called the assets a potential “source of financial instability.”
It said that its findings show that, “stablecoins are vulnerable to runs during periods of broad crypto market dislocation as well as idiosyncratic stress events.”
This asset type has also been a major talking point for officials in lawsuits plaguing the crypto industry. In the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) vs. Binance case, the stablecoin issuer Circle (USDC) recently argued that stablecoins are not securities.
Despite this Tether has seen a rise in Tether-based stablecoin loans in the year 2023.
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