Bitcoin Price Shrugs Off Latest $2B Mt. Gox Transfer as Distribution Nears Its End

Bitcoin’s {{BTC}} price was barely budging after bankrupt Japanese exchange Mt. Gox floated another $2 billion worth of tokens on Tuesday evening, moving closer to completing a $9 billion asset distribution that has been a source of major concern for investors.

Blockchain data provided by Arkham Intelligence shows that addresses related to Mt. Gox moved 47,229 BTC worth about $3.1 billion between internal wallets, and then transferred 34,000 BTC worth about $2.3 billion to new addresses just before midnight UTC on Tuesday. The buyer is likely BitGo, the last of five crypto service providers from which creditors can recover their funds, Arkham analysts said.

Following today’s moves, the amount of BTC held in Mt. Gox wallets has fallen to $3 billion, down from $9 billion last month, according to Arkham data.

UPDATE: MT.GOX moves $3.1 billion worth of BTC

Last night, Mt. Gox addresses moved 33.96K BTC ($2.25 billion) to addresses most likely to be BitGo:

bc1q26tsxc0ge7phvcr2kyczexqf5pcj8rk79cqk90h34c30dn9dskeq3gmw3f
bc1q48a5tjhdjtkfv8zv6tj68767h8lgep9dpx0emrkx0yhhmum7wscs95ft36

BitGo is ranked 5th… pic.twitter.com/XWNiZ2boAN

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) July 31, 2024

Previous large Mt. Gox transfers have triggered price declines, but today’s flat price action suggests investors may have overcome fears of selling pressure. Bitcoin fell 0.4% to $66,000 immediately after trading during the Asian trading session, but later recovered to around $66,500 during US hours.

The distribution of $9 billion worth of bitcoin and a smaller amount of bitcoin cash {{BCH}} from Mt. Gox, once the largest bitcoin exchange before it collapsed in a hack in 2014, is weighing on crypto market sentiment as investors worry that creditors are selling their assets to cash in on a decade of price appreciation. The trust that manages Mt. Gox assets began distributing the assets in July, sending tokens to exchanges including Kraken and Bitstamp that have chosen to receive their creditors’ claims in digital assets rather than fiat.

“From a psychological perspective, this represents the latest episode of a major market pressure on the industry,” Glassnode said in a report this week.

Analysts at Glassnode examined the cumulative volume delta (CVD) on Kraken and Bitstamp and found only a small increase in BTC sales following days when creditors were buying tokens on the platforms. CVD measures the net difference between spot buy and sell volumes on centralized exchanges.

The story continues

CVD (Glassnode) on Kraken

“This adds further evidence to our thesis that creditors may be better thought of as having the mindset of long-term owners for now,” the report said.