Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP exchange inflows surge after Donald Trump’s crypto reserve announcement

Crypto markets reacted sharply after US President Donald Trump unveiled plans for a Crypto Strategic Reserve on March 2.

The proposal, which includes Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Cardano, triggered a wave of sell-offs as traders sought to capitalize on price movements, according to a CryptoQuant report shared with CryptoSlate.

According to the report, Bitcoin inflows to exchanges saw an unprecedented rise, jumping from a typical range of 500 to 1,000 BTC per hour to a peak of 6,739 BTC the next day. Ethereum also witnessed a surge, with nearly 300,000 ETH flowing into exchanges within an hour.

XRP followed a similar trend, with total exchange inflows reaching 2 billion tokens in 2 days. At its peak, 193 million XRP entered exchanges per hour, primarily driven by significant whale transactions exceeding 1 million XRP.

Large inflows into exchanges often indicate selling pressure, and the data suggests that crypto traders have offloaded their holdings to lock in gains following the market uptick.

Meanwhile, analysts at CryptoQuant also noted that despite the price fluctuations, true spot demand remains weak.

They pointed out that Bitcoin’s growth has slowed since its post-election rally in late 2024 and has now entered contraction territory for the first time since September 2024.

According to the analysts:

“Unless Bitcoin demand starts to increase again, sustaining a rally in crypto prices will remain challenging.”