Cryptocurrency market trading has taken a downturn due to concerns over the upcoming Mt.Gox Bitcoin reimbursement. Bitcoin has dropped by 3% with a trading price of $59,700, while Ethereum has fallen by 3.5%. Solana and Polkadot have also experienced a 5% decline.
BTC Price
Nearly all of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap have seen losses within the past 24 hours, with Ethereum Name Service (ENS), Dogwifhat (WIF), and Fantom (FTM) experiencing declines of over 10%.
One pressure point in the cryptocurrency market is the anticipated release of Bitcoin from the now-defunct Mt.Gox exchange, which is expected to begin this month. QCP Capital Broadcast stated in its Telegram group, “The Mt.Gox distribution is also scheduled for this week. This surplus of up to 140,000 BTC is expected to continue putting pressure on the market, especially as the exact release schedule is still unknown.”
Repayment Plan
On June 24th, Mt.Gox revealed its plan to start distributing Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to creditors in July. Mt.Gox, established in 2010, quickly became the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange but suffered a hack in 2014, resulting in the loss of 850,000 Bitcoins for 240,000 users.
In September 2023, the trustee announced that creditors would receive partial repayments by October 2024, including 142,000 BTC, 143,000 BCH, and $510 million in fiat currency. Creditors have been waiting for these repayments for almost a decade.
Lennix Lai, the Chief Business Officer of OKX, believes that concerns about Mt.Gox sell-offs may be short-term. He stated, “Many early Mt.Gox users and creditors are long-term Bitcoin enthusiasts who are unlikely to sell all their Bitcoins immediately. Looking at previous sell-offs by law enforcement, such as the Silk Road case, they did not lead to sustained catastrophic price drops, indicating that the market often has enough liquidity to absorb sell-offs.”
Data from CoinGlass shows that 59,593 traders were liquidated for $168 million in the past 24 hours. The largest single liquidation order occurred on OKX, involving a $4 million ETH-USD futures contract.
Michael Van de Poppe, CEO of MN Trading, believes that Bitcoin is seeking a higher low point. He tweeted, “We’re likely to focus on the $61-61.5K region. My expectation for the market in July is a slow uptrend.”
Meanwhile, the US stock market continues to rise, with the S&P 500 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index increasing by 0.5% and 0.9% respectively.