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There's been a noticeable shift in the way cryptocurrency is handled, with a significant decrease in the availability of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) on various exchanges in June, as per the report released by Goldman Sachs (GS) on Tuesday. It's a change propelled by stricter regulations, increasing cybercrimes, and a subsequent uptick in self-custody of digital assets.
Bitcoin's supply has seen a shrinkage of 4%, approaching its December 2022 levels, which is reminiscent of its lowest point in November 2020, right before the 2021 bull market. Meanwhile, Ether's availability slumped by 5.8%, taking it back to May 2018's levels.
The bank has pinpointed several contributing factors for this emerging pattern. The increasing regulatory scrutiny that centralized spot exchanges are grappling with has set off alarms among investors. Concurrently, the ongoing fear of cyber thefts and hacks in the cryptocurrency realm has reaffirmed the popularity of the saying, "not your keys, not your coins," and has led to a surge in self-custody.
In the case of Ether specifically, the option to withdraw staked Ether has resulted in investors opting to stake rather than passively keeping it on exchanges.
The previous month witnessed a record high in the sale of Bitcoin miners' inventory as they capitalized on the robust performance of the digital currency. Goldman Sachs indicated that the total monthly BTC inflows from miners to exchanges nearly doubled from May, amounting to $99 million.
Moreover, following the easing of network congestion in May, there was a substantial revival in the monthly address activity for both Bitcoin and Ether, growing by 16% and 38%, respectively. In tandem, there was a significant decrease in the average daily Ether burned and average daily fees, both falling by over 60% on a monthly basis.
Lastly, the past month also experienced an upswing in new on-chain activity, with the daily average new address count for Bitcoin and Ether expanding by 10% and 48%, respectively, compared with the preceding month.
