Ethereum exchange balance at 19 month low as price hits $2,140 peak

The amount of Ethereum held on crypto exchanges has hit a 19 month low as the asset made a new price peak over the weekend.

Data from on-chain analytics provider Glassnode has revealed that the amount of Ethereum stored on exchanges has fallen to a 19 month low.

There is currently around 14.6 million ETH, or 12.7% of the entire supply, sitting on centralized exchanges according to the data provider. It has not been this low since August 2019 when the asset was trading at around $220.

The data suggests that more of the asset has been moved into cold storage or institutional funds, deposited on the Ethereum 2.0 staking contract, or used in high-yielding decentralized finance protocols. It is a bullish indicator signaling that investors are not preparing to sell the asset yet and are using it to earn yields in other avenues.

Ethereum into ETH 2.0 and DeFi

The amount of Ethereum currently locked across DeFi protocols is at a record high of 10.8 million ETH, according to Defipulse.com. This is worth around $21.8 billion at current prices and represents 9.4% of the entire supply.

Rather than leave ETH on exchanges earning very little – which is akin to leaving money in a bank with virtually nothing in terms of interest – holders have been using it in DeFi protocols, yielding much greater returns.

Staking ETH into the Beacon Chain contract for the new ETH 2.0 blockchain is also a good way of earning greater yields, however, there is a lockup period of at least a year.

There is currently 3.75 million ETH worth around $7.6 billion staked in the deposit contract. This is currently earning an annual percentage yield of 8.1%, according to the ETH 2.0 Launchpad.

A number of exchanges such as Binance offer ETH staking services but do not include the staked ETH in their figures which has added to the drop in exchange balances.

ETH prices hit all-time high

Ethereum prices hit a new all-time high over the weekend of $2,140, according to Tradingview.com. The move came in early trading on Saturday morning, but the asset has fallen back to just over $2,000 during Monday’s Asian crypto trading session.

This year, Ethereum has gained 175% to current levels, out-performing its big brother Bitcoin, which has made 97% in the same period. At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $57,200 after briefly tapping $60k again on Friday, Feb.2.