Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) Prices Drop Below $63K as Mt. Gox Moves $2.8B in BTC
Bitcoin (BTC) faced fresh selling pressure on Tuesday after blockchain data showed that now-defunct exchange Mt. Gox had begun moving coins internally for potential payments to creditors.
The top cryptocurrency by market cap fell 3%, briefly dipping below $63,000 after testing the $65,000 mark during early Asian trading, according to CoinDesk.
The decline occurred because the wallet associated with Mt. Gox initially moved 0.021 BTC ($1,000) to the blockchain address: 1EoZd1QNCiN9JbnsqvLRDbHKLygAsXHg3V. The small move, reportedly a test transfer, was followed by a significant move of 44,527 BTC ($2.84 billion) to an internal wallet, according to data tracked by Arkham Intelligence.
The move was likely part of the payment plan, according to blockchain detective Lookonchain.
Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, went bankrupt in 2014 after losing hundreds of thousands of bitcoins in a hack. The exchange started paying off his debt on July 4, sparking fears of mass sales by creditors who have waited a decade for repayments.
Bitcoin’s decline weighed on the broader market, with ether, the second-largest digital asset by market value, falling more than 2.5% to $3,400. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), a broader market gauge, fell more than 2% to 2,182.