Although Bitcoin fell below $ 30,000 for the first time in a month, on-chain metrics suggest that whales may steadily pile up BTC.

According to Glassnode’s July 19 “The Week On-Chain” report, the centralized exchanges’ bitcoin reserves have continued to evaporate despite the recent sustained downward momentum, averaging 36,000 bitcoin (worth about $ 1 billion) each month of be withdrawn from the exchanges.

Glassnode believes that the shrinking Bitcoin reserves on the exchanges are showing that large investors are moving BTC to safe stores instead of leaving their coins on the exchanges to prepare for sale.

Glassnode also notes a recent surge in the number of companies selling Bitcoin since May, from around 250,000 to nearly 300,000 today. Glassnode describes “an entity” as a cluster of addresses that are uniquely linked in the chain.

The on-chain analytics provider found that the number of “sending entities” – the unique clusters of addresses involved in sales – fell by about a third, from 150,000 to 100,000, while the “receiving entities” – Addresses associated with accumulation or storage only – which increased by more than 20% from 190,000 to 250,000 over the same period.

While Glassnode emphasized signs of consolidation, it noted that the market sentiment was very divided and expected extreme volatility for the market:

“We have an extremely divided market and a volatile market just around the corner.”

Connected: Traders withdraw 2,000 BTC from centralized exchanges every day

It added that miners are now also in accumulation mode, despite the cost of mining in the massive exodus following China’s raid. The Miners Net Position Change Index shows that currently over 3,300 BTC is accumulating per month.