This Week in Coins Bitcoins Rough Week Sinks Cryptocurrency Fleet

CoinDesk Report:
Decoding Mitchell Preffer’s Illustrations.
A decade after the Mt. Gox bankruptcy case, Bitcoin distributions have officially commenced, sending shockwaves through the cryptocurrency market.
According to CoinGecko, on Friday, Bitcoin plummeted to $53,898, marking its lowest point since February. This represents a 27% drop from its historical high of $73,700 recorded in March and the largest decline from local highs since the asset fell to $15,500 in November 2022.
Despite Bitcoin’s swift decline following the exchange’s commencement of distributions, on-chain data suggests the drop is more narrative-driven than event-driven.
Blockchain data platform Arkham Intelligence tweeted on Friday, “Mt. Gox wallets still hold 138,985 Bitcoin ($7.52 billion).” This implies that only 2,701 Bitcoin have actually left the exchange’s wallets for repayment, with only a small fraction of these coins likely sold by recipients.
Indeed, the bearish narrative surrounding Mt. Gox has proven pervasive, affecting even altcoins entirely unrelated to the exchange.
While Bitcoin has slightly recovered to $56,372, down 7% over the week, Ethereum has seen a significant decline, closing this week at $2,989, a 12% decrease from the previous week. Despite pessimistic sentiments around the potential launch of an Ethereum spot ETF next week, Mt. Gox and Germany’s Bitcoin remain the focal points in the cryptocurrency space.
By market capitalization, the top ten cryptocurrencies (excluding stablecoins) have all incurred losses this week.
What’s hindering us? Solana, evidently, has only dropped 4% this week, and has actually risen by 3% in the past 24 hours. This asset could be next in line to receive the digital asset ETF treatment, industry observers suggest, possibly post the U.S. federal elections, when cryptocurrency adversary Gary Gensler may lose his position at the SEC.
Speaking of elections, speculation this week around President Joe Biden potentially being replaced as the Democratic nominee has led to rollercoaster-like fluctuations in political meme coins based on Solana.
Jeo Boden (Boden) meme coin fell 43% this week, partially recovering after Biden’s commitment to stay in the race. Regardless, Kamala Horris (KAMA), based on the vice president, surged 326%, as cryptocurrency investors briefly backed Kamala Harris to replace Joe Biden. The president reversed his decision yesterday regarding his vice president.
Unfortunately, meme coins’ enduring allure has also been exploited by scammers. Earlier this week, $SMASH token, inspired by UFC star Khamzat Chimaev, tanked to zero immediately after the boxer promoted it on social media, with on-chain footprints pointing to a meticulously planned pump-and-dump.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.