​Glassnode: investors are indifferent to SEC lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase

What’s new? Experts at analytics service Glassnode found that the lawsuits of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the Binance and Coinbase exchanges had a greater impact on institutional investors compared to smaller organizations. The regulator brought charges of offering unregistered securities against both platforms on June 5 and June 6, respectively. For example, between June 5 and June 12, Binance’s stablecoin balance decreased by $1,6 billion (~20%). Reserves of BTC and ETH decreased by a more modest 5,7% and 7,1%, respectively. At the same time, the experts noted that this outflow of assets did not affect the exchange much.

Glassnode’s report

What other data is known? For Coinbase, the changes in reserves were less significant, the stablecoin balance did not change during the week, and bitcoin reduced by 2300 BTC (0,5% of the total volume). As for Ethereum, the balance decreased by 291 000 ETH (~8%). Analysts clarified that the withdrawal of ETH can be attributed to criticism of the staking program.

Analysis of the withdrawal breakdown from exchanges showed an interesting divergence in investor behavior. For example, transactions of less than $10 million saw constant withdrawals, with a net outflow of more than $130 million per day throughout the week. And for transactions over $10 million, the daily inflow rates ranged from $15 million to $30 million. This suggests that large institutions are more influenced by the SEC news than smaller ones, the report says.

Experts recorded an increase in inflows and outflows of funds to exchanges by about 70% to $845 million. Withdrawals exceeded deposits by about 10%, suggesting that self-custody remains the preferred strategy for investors. Similar dynamics were seen after the FTX crash, Glassnode noted.

An analysis of investor types showed the following:

• Short-term holders accounted for 76,4% of deposits (23 000 BTC);
• Long-term holders accounted for just 1,9% of deposit volume (570 BTC);
• Inter-exchange transfers accounted for 21,7% of deposit volume (6530 BTC).

Glassnode clarified that short-term holders historically accounted for about 60% of deposit flows, indicating that recent buyers were the most active. This group of investors sent 0,93% of their holdings to exchanges. While this did not exceed the 1% threshold that is often seen with high volatility, it is a notable increase over the 2021-2022 cycle baseline.

Long-term BTC holders have been quiet, showing no discernible reaction to the news. Their exchange inflow volume this week was only 0,004% of the total balance sheet, with 66% of all trading days seeing a larger relative inflows.

The total realized gains and losses in the last seven days were relatively small. Most were bought at close to the current price. According to experts, this indicates both a degree of confidence (investors in general are not shaken by the news) and apathy (the current price range is not a sufficient incentive to spend).

As part of the lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase, the Commission classified the following tokens traded on the platforms as unregistered securities: SOL, ADA, MATIC, FIL, SAND, AXS, CHZ, FLOW, ICP, NEAR, VGX, DASH, NEXO, ATOM, MANA, ALGO, AXS, and COTI.