The supply of bitcoin across all cryptocurrency exchanges has fallen to its lowest level since December 2017.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) fell 1.3% to $26,779 on Monday while ether (ETH-USD) was down 0.8% to $1,806.
Over the past month, bitcoin’s price has primarily consolidated, reducing its value by just 2%, according to Coingecko.
There has been a 14.87% decline in the amount of Bitcoin held on all exchanges over the past year, according to data from Coinglass.
Read more: Crypto live prices
Cryptocurrency exchanges now hold approximately 1.89 million bitcoin, a drop from 2.22 million in May 2022.
Ethereum reserves have fallen to the same level seen in 2015, when the cryptocurrency debuted.
Inventors are moving cryptocurrencies off exchanges and into personal crypto wallets, indicating a growing trend towards self-custody among traders.
The move also creates less liquid supply on exchanges, indicating that a short term price rise could occur if demand for bitcoin or ether should increase.
It comes as US president Joe Biden has said he will not agree to a debt deal that protects “tax cheats and crypto traders”.
At a meeting of the G7 heads of state in Hiroshima, Japan, on 21 May, he called on Republican lawmakers to work towards a compromise in the ongoing debt ceiling talks.
Read more: Bitcoin shows bullish signals after Janet Yellen warns US could be ‘out of cash by early June’
“I’m not going to agree to a deal that protects wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders while putting food assistance at risk for nearly a hundred — excuse me — nearly 1 million Americans,” Biden said.
“Protections for crypto traders” is believed to refer to tax-loss harvesting.
The White House and Republican leaders are currently engaged in talks about potentially preventing this mechanism from applying to cryptocurrency transactions, according to the Washington Post.
Watch: Japan vies to be ‘number one again through web3 innovation’ | The Crypto Mile
Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
