The holdings of Ethereum (ETH) on major centralized exchanges have fallen to as low as 3.49% of the total supply, marking an all-time low. This is the result of combined demand from staking, DeFi (DeFi), and long-term holdings, which has increased outflows from exchanges.
Key takeaways
Of the total ETH supply, only 3.49% remains on exchanges that are traceable, and an additional 1.16% exited exchanges after June 1.
On-chain analytics firm **Santiment** cites two main drivers of supply reduction: roughly 35% of ETH is currently staked, and about $53 billion is deposited in DeFi.
**CryptoQuant** analyzed that network activity remained strong even during the price adjustment phase, and that priority fees surged sharply.
Ethereum supply structure change
Ethereum’s exchange holdings have once again hit a new low since June 1, as an additional 1.16% of total supply has moved out of exchanges. In other words, the amount of readily sellable supply has decreased accordingly.
On-chain data firm Santiment assesses that staking and DeFi are driving these structural changes. Around 35% of Ethereum’s current supply is staked, and DeFi protocols are estimated to have about $53 billion worth of ETH locked up. This means investors are actively using options to manage their assets on-chain rather than in exchange order books.
Long-term holders and large hands with institutional or treasury-like characteristics are also contributing to a decline in exchange holdings. Mining and infrastructure firm BitMine said that as of the beginning of this month, it has staked more than 5 million ETH. However, it’s also clear that a reduction in supply on exchanges does not automatically guarantee a price increase.
Also read: DualBits hack—most of the stolen crypto worth $7 million converted to Ethereum
CryptoQuant’s network signal
According to CryptoQuant, recent Ethereum Gas Used rose to roughly 217.1 billion, up by about 0.26%, suggesting that demand for block space was not significantly weakened even as a price adjustment was underway.
First, the priority fee was about $464,000, up 26.74% from the previous day. With higher fees being paid to miners and validators for priority processing, it’s been interpreted that competition among transactions to be included in blocks has intensified. Meanwhile, the number of mined/validated blocks per day was about 7,147, with almost no change.
CryptoQuant pointed to the $2,600–$2,650 range as a short-term technical support zone, saying that if this area holds and network activity stays at its current level, ETH could attempt to move back into the $2,700–$2,800 range. However, it added that this scenario depends on several conditions being met.
Ethereum’s price has climbed steeply from around the $1,900 range over the past month to near $2,800, before slipping back to about the $2,660 level. Despite the short-term pullback, it remains at a relatively high level compared with prior lows.
This ups and downs confirms that a decline in exchange holdings is a meaningful signal on the supply side, while also showing that short-term price action cannot be determined by that factor alone. A prevailing view is that a clear direction will only emerge when on-chain flows, the macro environment, and derivatives positioning all align.
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