Bitcoin Drops Below $55,000, Altcoins Bleed As Mt Gox Moves to Repay Creditors

Bitcoin’s value plunged below $55k in the last 24 hours, triggering a bloodbath in the overall crypto market. The price cash came following Mt Gox transfer of $2.7 billion worth of Bitcoin to a new address yesterday.

Mt Gox Announces Repayments

On Thursday evening, a wallet controlled by Mt. Gox, the now-defunct crypto exchange, transferred 47,228 BTC, worth about $2.71 billion to a new wallet.  

The latest wallet activity is believed to be part of Mt. Gox’s trustee plan to distribute over $9 billion worth of funds in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and fiat to its creditors from early July. That would be around 142,000 bitcoin ($8 billion), 143,000 bitcoin cash ($45.9 million) and fiat currency worth 69 billion Japanese yen ($428.7 million). The exchange publicly disclosed this plan last month. 

Following the transaction, Mt. Gox trustee officially confirmed on July 5 that the exchange has made repayment in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to some of the rehabilitation creditors in accordance with the plan. However, the trustee did not specify the amount of BTCs sent to creditors.

Market Reaction

Mt Gox recent move aggravated Bitcoin’s bearish momentum which has been on a downward trend in the past few days. There has been increased selling pressure linked to the German government Bitcoin transfers. 

Following the news of Mt. Gox transfer, Bitcoin’s price took a nosedive, dropping from around $57,000 to a current low of $54,041. This sharp decline represents a 7.6% drop in the last 24 hours, erasing billions in market value. 

Altcoins were not left behind in the bloodbath. Ethereum plunged below $3,000, shedding 10.5% in the last 24 hours. Additionally, Binance Coin (BNB) and Toncoin (TON) plunged 12% and 13%, respectively. Dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano (ADA) suffered steep drops of 15% each. TRON (TRX) was down 3.5%.

Furthermore, the  price movement triggered a cascade of liquidations across various cryptocurrency exchanges. According to data from CoinGlass, the total value of liquidated positions reached $675 million in the past 24 hours.