According to a July 31 report by CCData, the trading volume for USD Coin $1.00 pairs on centralised exchanges reached $135 billion as of July 25, while its market capitalisation rose 5.4% to $33.6 billion.
"The movement of assets held in the wallets under the control of governments often results in speculation of possible sales on centralized exchanges,” Joshua de Vos, research lead at CCData, said.
In a July 17 markets report CCData shared that the combined spot and derivatives volume across all centralized exchanges stood at $4.2 trillion in June, down 53% from the record $9 trillion in volume reached in late March.
Bybit, which has seen its trading volume and market share surge, has been the most prolific lister among higher-volume exchanges, with listings up 83% since the start of 2023, CCData found. Coinbase has been the most conservative, with its listings up 8.2% over the same period, CCData said.
Bitcoiners have long embraced the ethos of not selling, or hodling as it’s known in the crypto world. About 70% of all digital wallets haven’t moved their Bitcoin in over a year, even when the coin hit all-time highs in March, per CCData.
Centralised crypto exchanges had a strong first half, with total aggregate spot volumes rising $10.6tn compared with $4.32tn in the second half of last year, according to CCData. March was a record, it added. The driver was primarily the arrival of the US spot bitcoin ETFs. However, the graph also shows how the post-halving lull has hit volumes.
The last bitcoin halving took place on April 19 this year, so those historical timeframes have yet to pass.
“Moreover, we have observed a decline in trading activity on centralised exchanges for nearly two months following the halving event in previous cycles, which seems to have mirrored this cycle. This suggests that the current cycle could expand further into 2025,” CCData said.
Crypto derivatives are a bigger market than the so-called spot market worldwide. In May, spot trading volumes on centralized exchanges was $1.57 trillion, while monthly derivatives volume reached $3.69 trillion, according to data from crypto researcher CCData. Demand for futures have increased since the approval of US Bitcoin exchange-trade funds at the start of the year.
Bitcoin has not reached the top of its current cycle and is likely to go past its all-time high this year, according to a research report released by CCData on Tuesday. CCData further said that the approval of Ethereum ETFs in the U.S. will also help bring more demand for cryptocurrencies.
According to CCData research analyst Jacob Joseph, the markets are more than capable of absorbing the selling pressure.
“Moreover, a healthy part of the creditors are likely to take a 10% haircut on their holdings to receive the repayment early, and not all holdings are set to be liquidated on the open market, reducing the overall selling pressure,” he said.
Get our latest research, reports and event news delivered straight to your inbox.