Bitcoin
Bitcoin Drops to $55,000 as Defunct Exchange Mt. Gox Begins Paying Creditors
Top line
Bitcoin’s price fell to its lowest level since February on Friday morning amid a broader sell-off in the cryptocurrency market, while now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox — which collapsed in 2014 — began the process of paying off its creditors.
Bitcoin’s price briefly dipped below $54,000 on Friday.
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Key facts
The price of the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency briefly dipped below $54,000 early Friday morning before stabilizing just above the $55,000 mark.
In the last 24 hours, the price of Bitcoin has fallen by more than 6.7%, and compared to last week, its value has plummeted by more than 11%.
Other cryptocurrencies were also affected by the sell-off, with the price of Ether falling below $2,900 — down more than 9% — while other tokens such as Binance’s BNB and Solana dropped 11% and 5.8% respectively.
In addition to Bitcoin, Mt. Gox will also use Bitcoin Cash to pay its creditors, the value of which has fallen by nearly 25% in the past week.
Main context
On Friday, administrators of the now-defunct Mt. Gox, which went bankrupt in 2014, said they had begun the process of refunding its creditors according to its “Rehabilitation Plan.” Repayments will be staggered and creditors will receive approximately 140,000 Bitcoins (worth $7.6 billion) and 143,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) tokens ($42.5 million) in total. On Thursday evening, Mt. Gox moved about 47,228 Bitcoins ($2.71 billion) from cold storage to a new wallet. The size of the payment has sparked concerns that creditors may liquidate some of the returned assets — thus driving down prices. Before its collapse, Mt. Gox was the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and in 2013, accounted for 70% of all global Bitcoin transactions.
Big number
23.56%. That’s how much the price of bitcoin has fallen in the past 30 days. The drop comes after the token hit an all-time high above $73,700 in March, driven largely by regulatory approval and the launch of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds.
Further Reading
Bitcoin Price Drops Below $58,000 for First Time in 2 Months (Forbes)