Fidelity: The decline in exchange Bitcoin (BTC) supply "stems from purchases by listed companies"

Source: Cointelegraph Original text: “Fidelity: The decline in Bitcoin (BTC) supply on exchanges is due to purchases by public companies”

According to a report by Fidelity Digital Assets, as publicly listed companies accelerate the accumulation of this digital asset following the U.S. presidential election, the Bitcoin reserves of cryptocurrency exchanges have dropped to their lowest level in over six years.

Fidelity stated on social media platform X: “We have observed that the supply of Bitcoin on exchanges has decreased due to purchases by listed companies, and this trend is expected to accelerate further in the near term.”

Fidelity stated that the BTC supply on exchanges has dropped to approximately 2.6 million coins, the lowest level since November 2018. Since November, over 425,000 BTC have been withdrawn from exchanges, a trend that is typically seen as a signal of long-term investment rather than short-term trading.

During the same period, listed companies accumulated nearly 350,000 BTC.

Fidelity Digital Assets is a subsidiary of Fidelity Investments. Fidelity Investments is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, and manages $5.8 trillion in assets. The Fidelity Digital Assets subsidiary was established in 2018, well before cryptocurrencies were considered an institutional-grade asset class.

Fidelity is the issuer of the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund, which is one of the first 11 spot Bitcoin ETFs approved in the United States.

Despite Fidelity noting the large purchases of Bitcoin by enterprises, most of the accumulation comes from Strategy, co-founded by Michael Saylor, which has transformed from a business intelligence company into a Bitcoin bank.

Since November of last year, Strategy has purchased 285,980 BTC, accounting for 81% of the approximately 350,000 BTC bought by listed companies.

The latest purchase of 6,556 BTC by Strategy was disclosed on April 21.

Outside of the United States, publicly listed companies in Asia have also adopted similar Bitcoin reserve strategies, with Japan’s Metaplanet and Hong Kong’s HK Asia Holdings both increasing their Bitcoin allocations.

Metaplanet currently holds 5000 BTC, and its CEO Simon Gerovich stated that they plan to double this amount this year.

At the same time, HK Asia Holdings announced plans to raise approximately $8.35 million, which may be used to increase its Bitcoin reserves.

Related news: BlackRock’s Bitcoin (BTC) fund attracted $643.2 million in a single day and was rated the best new ETF.