Key Points
- The price of Bitcoin dipped below $66,000 following news of a multi-billion dollar BTC transfer from the defunct Mt. Gox exchange.
- Despite significant movements from Mt. Gox, Bitcoin’s price remains above $60,000, indicating limited market impact.
The price of Bitcoin recently fell under $66,000. This occurred in the wake of reports about a substantial BTC transfer from the now-defunct Mt. Gox exchange.
Mt. Gox’s Massive Bitcoin Transfer
On July 30, the Mt. Gox estate shifted another batch of approximately 34,000 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at around $2.25 billion. The transfer was to a new wallet, suggesting the exchange is actively repaying its creditors, following its 2014 shutdown.
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, Mt. Gox moved 33,963 BTC to a new wallet. The funds are still in the new wallet. It remains unclear whether the defunct exchange moved the BTC, worth over $2 billion, to a crypto exchange or simply reallocated the funds within its own wallets.
Bitcoin’s Price Reaction to Mt. Gox’s Moves
The price of Bitcoin briefly dropped to $65,400 amid the transfer. However, it quickly bounced back above the $66,000 level. As of the time of writing, BTC is trading just above $66,000, a 5.37% decrease from July 29 when it reached $70,000.
The impact of these recent transfers on Bitcoin’s price remains to be seen. For instance, the extended sell-off of confiscated BTC by the German government in early July led to a price drop below $55,000.
Initial indicators suggest limited sell-side pressure. A July 29 report from Glassnode reveals that out of the 142,000 BTC recovered from the Mt. Gox hack, around 59,000 BTC have already been distributed to creditors via major exchanges Kraken and Bitstamp. Despite these significant movements, Bitcoin’s price has stayed above the $60,000 mark, suggesting a relatively contained market impact.
As a result, the proportion of Bitcoin held by new investors has decreased. According to Glassnode, long-term holders now control about 45% of the network’s wealth. This shift indicates a move in investor behavior towards holding rather than selling. However, Mt. Gox still holds over $5.3 billion worth of BTC in its wallets, implying that the distribution of these funds could extend over weeks or even months.
