Ether supply on exchanges falls to 3.74% of total, a record low

The share of $ETH sitting on centralised exchanges has fallen to just 3.74% of total supply, a record low, according to on-chain analytics firm Santiment. The reading has dropped sharply from around 5% in late February, leaving the thinnest immediately sellable float in the asset's history.

Staking and Corporate Treasuries Absorbing Supply

Santiment attributes the drain to two structural forces: near-record staking participation and aggressive accumulation by corporate treasuries. On-chain data show about 37 million ETH, or roughly 31% of the total supply, is currently staked, locking tokens away from exchange order books and earning validators a steady yield. Since The Merge, Ethereum's annual issuance has fallen to less than 0.5% of total supply, and net issuance has been negative in periods of high network activity.

On the corporate side, the scale of accumulation is striking. BitMine Immersion Technologies alone holds 5,815,164 ETH tokens, about 5% of the total circulating supply. The vast majority of these holdings are directly injected into the validation protocol, meaning they are effectively locked out of open-market selling. SharpLink ranks second among corporate holders with roughly 868,699 ETH and stakes close to all of it.

Bitcoin's Exchange Float Tells a Different Story

The contrast with $BTC is notable. Bitcoin's equivalent exchange-supply reading currently sits at 6.66% and has ticked higher in recent weeks, suggesting that while Bitcoin holders are also moving coins into self-custody over a longer horizon, the pace of withdrawal from exchanges is less pronounced than it is for Ethereum right now.

The sustained outflows reduce sell-side liquidity on exchanges and imply bullish pressure for ETH price and potential increased DeFi participation, staking, and self-custody adoption. However, a thin float can amplify moves in either direction, and the supply picture alone is not a guarantee of near-term price appreciation. A thin float can amplify moves in either direction, and separate data showing many holders underwater tempers the purely bullish read.

What the data does make clear is that Ethereum's supply structure is undergoing a meaningful shift. Corporate treasury buyers and stakers are converting a growing portion of circulating ETH into long-duration, yield-generating positions, a dynamic that reduces the available float and changes the asset's market behaviour over time.

Sources:
CoinDesk: Ethereum Staking Milestone and Supply Data
Cryptopolitan: Ethereum Exchange Supply Hits Record Low
Datawallet: Ethereum Staking Statistics and Trends 2026