Ethereum’s ICO treasury withdrawals reach 2018 high in December

According to Diar, a market research firm, Ethereum’s ICO treasury withdrawals have edged closer to 400k in December, which is the highest it has been this year.

An ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering, which are often special events in which cryptocurrency developers attempt to raise funds for their new token.

Diar has reported that “Ethereum has dropped 83% in price from the start of the year when ICO treasuries saw massive activity with withdrawals being the highest they ever were this year.” This comes after November’s bear market, which has resulted in November being the largest withdrawal period of the year on the back of an 82k Eth drawdown by Tezos.

The move by the Tezos project equated to roughly $9.5 million that was withdrawn from the ICO treasury. Another top holder, Aragon, also moved 40k into a Dai CDP to protect the holdings from the recent increase in volatility.

Diar’s chart depicts how around 400,000 Ether has been liquidated from ICO treasuries so far in December alone, clearly defining the month as the largest withdrawal period of the year.

One of the biggest moves in December comes from Filecoin, who withdrew 216,909 Eth from the ICO treasury. Another notable move, though not as remarkable as Filecoin, was by Kyber who withdrew 66,545 Eth from the treasury.

Filecoin’s sell off is so significant that it accounts for almost half the total that has been withdrawn in December. Substratum, likewise, liquidated nearly all of its holdings after withdrawing 8,931 Eth.

Diar notes that the ICO treasuries used to be worth $3 billion and at the time of their post this figure dropped to $350 million.

At the beginning of the year, the amount of Eth held in ICO treasuries was roughly 4,623,148, a figure which has since dropped to 3,052,168 when Diar released the statistics. Bitcoinist reported that the average monthly withdrawal was around 2.5%, a figure that drastically increased in December, rising to 12.20%, equating to around 423,816 Eth.

The massive amounts of withdrawals from the treasury come after Ethereum’s rough year in the markets. According to Bitcoinist, the third quarter for Ethereum has been particularly bleak. “In December, it fell down to as little as $83, which is almost 95 percent down from its all-time high values at the beginning of the year.”

Following a tumultuous year for Ethereum, it remains to be seen how the mass withdrawal from ICO treasuries will affect the cryptocurrency heading into 2019.

A useful resource that can help you view information relating to Ethereum’s ICO treasury is Dapp Capitulation which holds a wealth of information.

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