Bitcoin price fell below the $60,000 psychological mark earlier today, threatening to prolong the current price consolidation, as Mt. Gox has potentially started releasing $9 billion worth of BTC.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell 4.2% in the 24 hours leading up to 10:33 am UTC, July 3, to a local bottom of $59,600. The world’s first cryptocurrency is down 1.8% on the weekly chart, according to CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin price has been in a downtrend since June, logging a nearly 18% decline during the second quarter of 2024.
Investors have been eagerly anticipating a breakout above the $70,000 mark, to pave the way towards new all-time highs, but losing the current $60,000 support could mean a longer price correction.
Did Mt. Gox start repaying creditors?
Bitcoin’s decline below $60,000 may be attributed to the potential start of the Mt. Gox creditor repayments, expected in early July.
The defunct crypto exchange may have started repaying creditors, based on a Bitcoin transfer volume chart for tokens last moved during the past seven to 10 years, shared by Charles Edwards, the founder of Capriole Investments digital asset hedge fund.
Edwards wrote in a July 2 X post:
“The entire history of this chart has disappeared because an enormous sum of Bitcoin moved on-chain, 10X more than the previous highs. $9B. But by who? Mt. Gox. It looks like those distributions really are coming.”
More than $9.4 billion worth of Bitcoin is owed to approximately 127,000 Mt. Gox creditors who have been waiting for over 10 years to recover their funds. This could mean that many investors will likely cash out after a decade of untouched profits.
However, the $9 billion from Mt. Gox could be absorbed by the institutional inflows from the United States spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The ETFs amassed over $52.5 billion worth of BTC since launch, according to Dune.
