Bitcoin (BTC) investors are withdrawing funds from exchanges at a rate not seen since April 2021 with nearly $3 billion in Bitcoin withdrawn over the past seven days.

New data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode shows the number of wallets receiving BTC from exchange addresses hit almost 90,000 on Nov. 9.

Exchange users wake up to self-custody

Amid ongoing turmoil over the bankruptcy of major exchange FTX, concerns have heightened among exchange users over security of funds.

Commentators have upped advice to avoid custodial wallets and take control of cryptoassets, and regulators are increasing scrutiny of the crypto industry en masse.

On-chain figures suggest that a large number of hodlers have opted for non-custodial wallets over the past week.

The number of withdrawing addresses saw a huge spike on Nov. 9, this surpassing the daily highs for both May and June this year when BTC price action last saw significant downside pressure.

For Nov. 12, the latest date for which data is available, withdrawing addresses still totaled over 70,000.

Bitcoin exchange receiving addresses chart. Source: Glassnode

The same Glassnode data gives an hourly average of over 3,000 withdrawing addresses over the seven days to Nov. 13.

Bitcoin exchange receiving addresses chart. Source: Glassnode/ Twitter