Bitcoin balances on Binance hit highest since November 2024: here's what it means

The number of bitcoin $BTC$66,380.86 held in wallets tied to the cryptocurrency exchange Binance continues to rise, according to data from CryptoQuant.

The tally rose to 676,834.84 $BTC ($44.53 billion) on Sunday, a level last seen in November 2024. That marks a 9.3% rise from the multi-month low of 618,782 in November. CoinDesk reached out to Binance for comment.

Rising balances signal investor intent to sell or use coins as margin in derivatives trading, with both typically leading to increased price turbulence.

$BTC balance on Binance. (CryptoQuant)

The weekend high likely stemmed from a renowned whale moving large amounts of $BTC to Binance.

Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham said Sunday that a crypto whale, possibly Garret Jin, operating on Hyperliquid's cross-chain asset tokenization and bridging infrastructure Hyperunit, transferred $760 million in bitcoin to Binance. The large transfer happened roughly six days after the entity moved half a billion dollars of ether to Binance.

It is unclear whether the whale has since liquidated coins, but the possibility cannot be ruled out, as bitcoin fell from $67,600 to $64,400 during Asian hours early Monday. Since then, it has recovered slightly to trade around $65,850.