The Shibarium Layer-2 upgrade is launching any day now, and it looks like some big SHIB players are making moves ahead of the launch. According to on-chain data, over $28 million in SHIB tokens have been withdrawn from major crypto exchanges in the just concluded month of July. 

Massive Withdrawals Signal Investor Interest in Shibarium

According to data shared on Twitter by crypto analyst Ali Martinez, backed up by on-chain chart data from IntoTheBlock, around 3.30 trillion SHIB were withdrawn from known crypto exchanges in July, the highest SHIB withdrawal rate in recent months. The chart’s data also shows that the circulating supply of the token within exchanges fell from 86.69 trillion to around 83 trillion by the end of the month.

July 19 saw the most significant withdrawal from exchanges, with more than two trillion tokens going into unknown wallets. According to on-chain data from @WhaleAlert, an Ethereum whale transferred 2.4 trillion SHIB tokens worth $18.7 million from Binance.US into an unknown wallet. With the price of the token up by 10% since then, the whale’s SHIB holding is now valued at more than $20 million. 

These massive SHIB withdrawals can be traced to the announcement of the Layer 2 blockchain, Shibarium, which is expected to help minimize gas fees and increase the transaction speeds of the blockchain.

While there’s still no official launch date for Shibarium yet, the high rate of withdrawals likely signals that SHIB investors are reducing the selling pressure and want to hold their tokens in private wallets in hopes of what the Shibarium launch might bring. 

Withdrawals From Exchanges Reduces Selling Pressure On SHIB

When SHIB is withdrawn from exchanges, it can’t be readily sold. This reduces the available supply of SHIB for sale, putting upward pressure on the price. When whales transfer such high amounts into self-custody, it frequently results in massive price changes and a rise in interest from other investors. This flurry of withdrawal into self-custody demonstrates the strength of the SHIB community and their faith in SHIB’s future.

The meme-inspired token has gained quite a lot of community and has led the entire crypto industry in gains for the past two weeks. Shibarium’s launch is anticipated and SHIB holders want to make sure they capitalize on everything the new scaling solution will offer. 

At the time of writing, SHIB’s market cap is nearing $5 billion after it recently retook the 14th position by market cap. The meme coin is trading at $0.000008314 and is up by 7.55% in the past seven days.