Major cryptocurrency exchange OKX has transferred 69,295,881,353 Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens, worth over $500,000, from a hot wallet into its deep cold storage vault. The transaction, first spotted by Arkham data, moved the funds via the official SHIB contract (0x95a) to an internal cold vault (0xBOA). This move mirrors a similar action taken by rival exchange Binance just days earlier, signaling a coordinated trend of major platforms pulling significant SHIB liquidity offline.
The transfers coincide with a broader market downturn. According to CoinGlass data, open interest in SHIB futures dropped over 8% in the last 24 hours, falling to $90.45 million (equivalent to 12,115,359,174,493 SHIB). The memecoin's price has declined in tandem, down 3.92% in 24 hours to $0.00000744 and down 5% on a weekly basis.
The market sell-off is attributed to a broader risk-off sentiment sweeping global markets. This occurred despite the U.S. Federal Reserve's widely expected decision to hold interest rates steady at 3.5%-3.75%. Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated the economy was on "firm footing," but the announcement prompted a rotation into safe-haven assets, pressuring crypto markets. In the last 24 hours, $369 million worth of crypto futures bets were liquidated, a 15% increase, with the majority being long positions.
Analysts note that large-scale movements to cold storage by exchanges typically fall into three categories: securing user funds, internal rebalancing, or preparing for significant future operational changes. The destination wallet used by OKX is identified as a long-term storage option for tokens not meant to move unless a strategic event is imminent. The consecutive actions by Binance and OKX have raised questions about potential volatility or liquidity shifts behind the scenes for SHIB.
