Bitcoin: Why is it Becoming More and More Difficult to Obtain it From Platforms?

More than 114,000 bitcoins, the equivalent of $14 billion, left the exchanges in the space of two weeks. An unprecedented movement which demonstrates a scarcity of available supply and a change in investor behavior as its value reached $125,000 on Sunday 5th October.

Sunday October 5, 2025, bitcoin has reached a record value $125,000, exceeding its highest level by $1,000 recorded in August. Boosted by the various measures in favor of cryptocurrencies launched by Donald Trump since his second term and by the institutionalization of the sector, in particular via the arrival of bitcoin spot ETFs on Wall Street, its price has increased by 87% in one year. But as reported BFM Crypto, this Tuesday, October 7, 2025, it would have become particularly complicated to obtain them from exchange platforms.

An unprecedented level in seven years

It seems that a scarcity of bitcoins is currently affecting crypto exchanges, according to Matthew Sigel, manager at the American asset manager VanEck. A total of $14 billion worth of bitcoins, or 114,000 units, have been withdrawn from major platforms over the past two weeks. According to Cointelegraph, some of them, such as Binance and Coinbase, only held 2.83 million bitcoins as of October 4, a level not seen since June 2019. According to CryptoQuant, this volume even fell to 2.45 million, the lowest in seven years.

These massive withdrawals reflect a change in strategy on the side of bitcoin holders. The latter now prefer to transfer their assets to “cold” wallets, that is to say offline, in order to ensure custody themselves. A way to avoid the risks linked to the conservation of cryptocurrencies on the stock exchanges, such as bankruptcy and the absence of regulation.