Binance has pulled in more than $2.1 billion in USDT and USDC stablecoin inflows in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s decision to trim interest rates by 25 basis points, a flow that market-watchers say points to growing institutional activity on the exchange. Crypto analyst Ali Martinez highlighted the figures in a widely shared post that reposted CryptoQuant data showing the one-day surge and other on-chain indicators.
Martinez flagged several striking datapoints from the CryptoQuant chart: whale deposits to exchanges now average roughly $214,000, up from about $63,000 in July, while altcoin deposit counts on Binance outnumber Coinbase by a wide margin (about 25,000 vs. 6,000). Total address activity on spot markets has nearly doubled since early September, according to the same snapshot, signs, Martinez argued, of “tighter spreads and deeper liquidity” that keep Binance the dominant venue for traders.
CryptoQuant itself described the inflow as among the largest positive stablecoin movements of 2025, noting nearly $2 billion in net stablecoin inflows to Binance on the day and calling it the biggest single-day positive change this year so far. That same CryptoQuant note showed sizable inflows to other venues as well, but with Binance taking the lion’s share.
Markets reacted calmly but positively. Bitcoin (BTC) was trading around $117,208 at the time of reporting, with a modest intraday gain, while Ethereum (ETH) was near $4,584, posting a stronger intraday advance, a pattern consistent with stablecoin-funded rotation into altcoins and risk assets. Traders and algos often use freshly deposited USDT/USDC as dry powder, and a concentrated inflow to a single venue can compress spreads and make execution easier for large players.
Why Stablecoin Inflows Matter?
When institutions or large traders move stablecoins onto exchanges, they generally prepare to buy crypto rather than to cash out, particularly when a clear macro catalyst (in this case, a Fed easing) reduces the expected cost of capital. Analysts point out that larger average “whale” deposit sizes, like the jump Martinez highlighted from $63k to $214k, are a useful proxy for institutional-sized orders returning to the market, not just retail activity. CryptoQuant’s dashboard and other on-chain monitors have tracked similar pulses ahead of previous rallies.
Not everyone is gung-ho. Some market veterans caution that stablecoin inflows are only one piece of the puzzle. Liquidity concentration on one exchange raises execution risk if that venue faces outages or withdrawal limits, and macro risks, from slower jobs data to geopolitics, can still sap momentum even after a rate cut. Still, the combination of looser U.S. policy and concentrated stablecoin liquidity has historically been a favorable backdrop for risk-on moves in crypto.
Monday’s Fed move (a 25 bps cut in the policy rate) loosened the macro backdrop and coincided with a substantial stablecoin inflow into Binance. On-chain observers and analysts like Ali Martinez see the pattern as evidence that larger, institutional-sized buying could be gearing up, and that shallow order books are becoming deeper at the major venue, which may help support tighter spreads and smoother price discovery in the near term.
