About $856 million in stablecoins left circulation last week, according to Lookonchain’s weekly data.
Trading on decentralized exchanges slowed at the same time, but one group of traders did the opposite.
Where Did the Stablecoin Money Go?
Traders park cash in stablecoins before buying Bitcoin or other coins, so a shrinking supply means less money ready to spend.
Most of the outflow came from Ethereum and Solana. They shed $726 million and $619 million in Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), respectively, Lookonchain data shows.
Tron moved the other way, adding $526 million.
Are Traders Leaving or Betting With Borrowed Money?
Notably, the total weekly decline equals roughly 0.3% of all stablecoins in circulation, according to DefiLlama.
So, with the decline accounting for less than 0.5%, does the decline alone prove investors are exiting crypto?
Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are apps where users swap coins straight from their own wallets, with no company in the middle. Spot trading there fell 19.34% on a weekly basis, to $47.84 billion. Uniswap volume alone dropped 25.8%.
Perpetual futures moved in the opposite direction. These contracts let traders bet on prices rising or falling, often with borrowed money. Their DEX volume rose 8.2% to $149.39 billion.
The volume data does not show which way those traders are betting.
Listed companies, in turn, cut their combined holdings by a net 89 BTC, worth about $7.37 million. Bitcoin miner CleanSpark sold 173 BTC, and Silvia, Inc. sold 165 BTC.
MicroStrategy still added 250 BTC, as Saylor’s firm slows purchases. Separately, BitMine bought 12,532 ETH worth $31.75 million, even as the company nears its ETH cap.
Bitcoin traded at $82,859 as of writing, down almost 5% in the last week. It remains below the $85,000 threshold for days now on thin trading.
Still, not every gauge weakened. Fees collected by crypto apps rose 4.44% week on week, led by Tether’s $122.06 million. Next week’s stablecoin figures will show whether the cash that left returns.
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