Capital flight from 'top caps' to DeFi, visualized

Amid Bitcoin’s ongoing consolidation, the market attention has ostensibly shifted away from perennial top-caps and towards lending protocols, decentralized exchanges and multiple other DeFi-based initiatives.


But don’t take my word for it - ever since Bitcoin’s ‘halvening’ on May 11th, the benchmark coin’s trading volume has been in a state of constant and ongoing decline, lending credence to the idea of organized ‘capital flight’ from crypto ‘blue chips’ into a growing number of mid and low-cap altcoins.

Bitcoin's trading volume, last 6 months (Source: Sanbase)

On May 11th, Bitcoin’s recorded trading volume was around $105,730,000,000. In comparison, the last 24 hours saw a ‘mere’ $26,290,000,000 being exchanged between traders - a 75.1% decline.


And it’s not just BTC, either. Other top-ranked assets including Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) have all experienced a similar drop in speculative interest

There’s more of this Insight

Choose your subscription plan

Sanbase PRO
Unlock all PRO insights
$49/mo

Years of market experience, compressed in each report

Since 2017, Santiment has been an industry leader in on-chain data, social intelligence and behavior-based analysis of the crypto market.

Our tools have a proven track record of timing price tops for cryptocurrencies, helping traders find profitable exit points and mitigate HODLing risk.

Our previous TOP calls:
insight card
signal form

What you get with Sanbase Pro:

  • Members-only daily market insights and analysis
  • 30+ on-chain, social & project indicators for 900 cryptocurrencies
  • Custom alerts for the coins' price, on-chain & social trends
  • Santiment Spreadsheet plugin with 10+ pre-made market templates
  • Personalized asset watchlists and weekly performance reports

Gain unfair advantage with Sanbase Pro

Subscribe to Sanbase Pro for access to exclusive insights, market-beating metrics, strategies and templates!