Exchanges risk losing all Ethereum to Wall Street firms

Statistics suggest that Wall Street firms will soon leave exchanges without Ethereum if the current trend does not change.

Since mid-July 2025, when institutions began actively accumulating ETH, the number of coins on trading platforms has fallen by 20%, reaching its lowest level since 2016 at 14,8 million, worth $60 billion at the current exchange rate. Furthermore, the Ethereum supply on exchanges, calculated by dividing the number of digital assets listed on exchanges by the number of coins in circulation, has also fallen to a nine-year low of 0,14.

Changes in ETH stock on exchanges (blue line) and the cryptocurrency’s price (black)

Chairman эфириумBitMine’s treasury manager, Tom Lee, attributed the depletion of reserves on trading platforms to financial institutions buying up coins. He believes their executives became interested in ETH because Block This virtual currency is considered neutral, unlike, for example, a semi-centralized network XRP (XRP).

Major Wall Street players want to use neutral and decentralized platforms. This is a commitment not only from Wall Street firms but also from the White House and Congress. Blockchain Ethereum «It’s neutral, and you can’t do whatever you want in it. That’s why it’s preferred, and it will continue to be so,» Lee said.

Tom Lee

Tom Lee predicts that, thanks to high institutional demand for Ethereum, the cryptocurrency’s price will rise to $10,000-$12,000 by the end of 2025. However, few share his view. For example, on the betting platform polymarketThe probability of ETH reaching $10,000 by the end of the year is estimated at only 7%. Therefore, it becomes clear that Lee’s forecast is overly optimistic.

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