The impending Bitcoin distributions from Mt. Gox have been looming over the cryptocurrency market ever since the order was granted to begin repaying creditors. Given the massive amount of BTC in Mt. Gox’s treasury, it is expected that the distribution will exert immense sales pressure on the asset. Now that the coins are starting to move, the cryptocurrency market is already reacting, despite the refunds in fact, it hasn’t started yet.
Mt. Gox Moves 47,229 BTC to Unknown Wallet
In the early hours of Tuesday, the Bitcoin wallet Mt. Gox accomplished a notable transaction that has made waves in the crypto community. The transaction, which was reported by on-chain data tracking and aggregation website Arkham Intelligence, carried approximately 47,229 BTC.
A number of the initial transactions came from a Bitcoin wallet called “Mt. Gox” to another wallet called “Mt. Gox: Cold Wallet.” In total, 47,229 Bitcoin were sent to the cold wallet. However, as soon as the coins arrived, they were moved from the cold wallet to another unidentified wallet.
The value of BTC coins at the time of the transfer was around $3 billion. To put that into perspective, that’s roughly the same amount of Bitcoin that the German government has sold in recent weeks, which has sent the price of Bitcoin and the cryptocurrency market into a tailspin.
Given the volume of BitcoinExpectations are that if the coins were to hit the market, it would cause a decline similar to that seen with the The German government’s commercial frenzyIn this case, the BTC price could return to the $50,000 territory again.
Interestingly, this transaction represents only about a third of the total amount that Mt. Gox is expected to repay to its creditors. The bankrupt exchange had previously moved 47,000 BTCwhich did not have much effect on the market. About 150,000 BTC are expected to be paid to creditors, worth $9 billion. So, if Mt. Gox’s entire BTC supply were to hit the market, it could trigger a massive crash.
Bitcoin price reacts to this movement
Following the Bitcoin Move from Mt. GoxCryptocurrency market assets reacted negatively, dropping rapidly. For example, the price of BTC fell from over $64,000 to below $63,000 in less than an hour, dragging the rest of the market down with it.
Bitcoin’s daily trading volume also saw a 44% increase to over $38 billion. This suggests increased activity among investors and, since the price is falling, it suggests that investors are selling rather than buying BTC at this point.
Featured image created with Dall.E, chart by Tradingview.com
