In its first major transaction since May, the collapsed Japanese crypto exchange, Mt. Gox, has transferred 47,229 Bitcoin (BTC) to a new wallet address. The value of this transfer amounts to $2.71 billion at current prices. The blockchain analytics platform, Arkham Intelligence, reported that the exchange made the transfer at 12:30 am UTC on July 5, moving the Bitcoin out from its “cold storage.” Mt. Gox had previously conducted a series of smaller test transactions in recent months, according to Arkham Intelligence.
This transfer is part of Mt. Gox’s scheduled plan to begin repaying its creditors this month. A total of $8.5 billion worth of Bitcoin is set to be paid back to these creditors. Some market commentators have expressed concerns about the potential impact of such a large volume of Bitcoin entering the market as Mt. Gox creditors sell their holdings, which have been inaccessible for over a decade. However, other analysts have tried to alleviate fears of a massive sell-off, stating that the total amount of Bitcoin that could be “dumped” on the market is likely to be closer to a value of around $4.5 billion.
On May 28, Mt. Gox made a significant transfer of nearly $7.3 billion worth of Bitcoin to another unknown wallet address. Following this transfer, the price of Bitcoin experienced a dip of up to 2%. As of now, the price of Bitcoin has fallen sharply on July 4 and has continued to decline, currently being traded at $57,328, according to TradingView data. Over the past week, Bitcoin has seen a decrease of 6.9%, but it has recorded year-to-date gains of 35.6%.
As this is an ongoing story, more information will be provided as it becomes available.