Researcher explains ETH exodus from exchanges

Blockchain analytics carried out by a Nansen researcher has highlighted outflows of Ether (ETH) and stablecoins from centralized exchanges in the wake of FTX’s collapse.

Nansen research analyst Sandra Leow posted a thread on Twitter unpacking the current state of Decentralized Finance (DeFi), with a specific focus on the movement of ETH and stablecoins from exchanges.

As it stands, the Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract contains over 15 million ETH while some 4 million Wrapped ETH are held in the WETH deposit contract. Web3 infrastructure development and investment firm Jump Trading holds over 2 million ETH tokens and is the third largest holder of ETH in the ecosystem.

The current state of DeFi in @nansen_ai charts

— sandra lmeow (@sandraaleow) November 22, 2022

Binance, Kraken, Bitfinex and Gemini wallets feature in the largest ETH balances list while the Arbitrum layer 2 roll-up bridge also holds a significant amount of Ether.

As Leow explained in correspondence with Cointelegraph, the percentage increase of ETH held in smart contracts can be seen as an indicator of ETH flowing into various DeFi products. This includes decentralized exchanges, staking contracts and custody services.

The recent collapse of FTX may have als led to fears for users holding assets with third-party custodians like centralized exchanges. Leow highlighted the reality that the safety of funds held on exchanges may not be guaranteed:

“There is an amplification for the quote, “Not your keys, not your coins”, and this is especially important given times like these.”

According to Nansen’s exchange flow dashboard, Jump Trading stands out as an entity with significant withdrawal volumes from exchanges in comparison to their deposits. Leow presented a number of possible reasons for Jump Trading’s token movements, noting the firm’s exposure to liquidity hub Serum (SRM) tokens:

“Due to their exposure to the FTX fallout, they had to offload some tokens out of exchanges in need of…