Crypto over-the-counter (OTC) desks, which act as an intermediary between two trading parties without revealing information about the trade to the public, now hold 368,000 bitcoin (BTC) worth over $22 billion, according to data tracking firm CryptoQuant.

The tally has increased by 153,000 BTC in three months, reaching the highest since June 2022.

Institutions and high-volume traders prefer to transact through OTC desks or outside exchange order books to avoid impacting the asset’s going market rate. Hence, the activity in OTC desks is said to reflect the behavior of sophisticated market participants, including miners or those responsible for making BTC.

“Miners often turn to OTC deals to sell bitcoin, seeking better execution without impacting the market price as they might on exchanges. The substantial rise in OTC desk balances suggests significant selling activity among miners,” CryptoQuant said in a blog post.

“Historically, increases in bitcoin OTC desk balances have been associated with declines in bitcoin prices,” CryptoQuant added.

Bitcoin was trading at $61,350 at press time.