Shiba Inu Whales Are Active Again: 361 Billion SHIB Moves Surprise Community

Recent activity in the Shiba Inu (SHIB) market has caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community, as significant movements of SHIB tokens are observed among large holders, or "whales." Data indicates a substantial withdrawal of SHIB tokens from exchanges along with a spike in burn rates, which might impact the overall supply and availability of the coin.

Key Takeaways

Increased Withdrawals: Whale wallets have withdrawn 361 billion SHIB from exchanges, leading to a notable drop in exchange reserves.
Burn Activity Surge: SHIB burn rates have surged by over 1,200%, eliminating almost 29 million tokens from circulation.
Price Stability: Despite these movements, Shiba Inu's price has seen minimal fluctuation, currently trading at $0.00000794.

Significant Drop in SHIB Held on Exchanges

Recent analytics from CryptoQuant highlight that SHIB reserves on exchanges have significantly decreased. As of January 16, exchanges held approximately 82.6 trillion SHIB. By January 20, this number had dropped to around 82.23 trillion SHIB, meaning around 370 billion SHIB has been withdrawn in just a few days. Such large transfers are usually seen with whales and are not typically conducted by regular retail traders. When these significant amounts of SHIB are removed from exchanges, they often end up in cold storage or long-term wallets, which in turn reduces the tokens available for immediate sale.

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SHIB Exchange Reserve. Source: CryptoQuant

This pattern of outflow aligns with a broader trend observed since January 2025. At the beginning of that month, SHIB exchange reserves were nearly 140 trillion tokens. However, since then, whales have consistently reduced their balances on exchanges, leading to today's level of approximately 82.2 trillion SHIB. This steady decline suggests strategic accumulation or long-term positioning by significant holders.

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SHIB Exchange Reserve. Source: CryptoQuant

Increased Whale Activity Linked to Rising SHIB Burn Rates

Alongside the withdrawals, the Shiba Inu network has seen a notable increase in burn activity as well. Recent data indicates that the SHIB burn rate has increased by over 1,200% in the past 24 hours, permanently taking almost 29 million SHIB out of circulation.

While burns are not solely initiated by whales, larger holders often influence these processes by transferring substantial amounts of tokens to burn addresses or engaging with ecosystem mechanisms like Shibarium, which facilitate burns. According to Shibburn, a website tracking burns, a significant portion of these transactions originated from a single transfer of 28 million SHIB sent to a burn address.

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SHIB Burn Rate. Source: Shibburn.com

CryptoQuant reports that over 51.2 billion SHIB tokens were withdrawn from exchanges in the last 24 hours alone. Despite these movements, Shiba Inu's price remains somewhat stable, currently trading at $0.00000794, up by 1% in the last 24 hours but down by 7.6% over the past week.

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SHIB Exchange Netflow. Source: CryptoQuant

Shiba Inu price chart from Tradingview.com SHIB price shows a bearish trend | Source: SHIBUSDT on Tradingview.com