Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox transferred 47,229 BTC (worth approximately $271 million) to a new wallet, marking its first significant transaction since May. The move occurred around 03:30 Bulgarian time on July 5, according to blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.
As of the end of May this year, Mt. Gox’s wallet held about 137,892 BTC, valued at approximately $9.45 billion at the time. Previous actions by the exchange had exerted selling pressure on Bitcoin prices.
In recent days, Mt. Gox conducted several smaller test transactions. This major transfer comes as the exchange prepares to begin distributing its assets to creditors this month, involving BTC tokens totaling around $8.5 billion.
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Market observers are concerned about the potential impact of releasing such a large volume of Bitcoin into the market, fearing sell-offs by Mt. Gox creditors who have been unable to access their assets for over a decade. Some analysts, however, estimate that the actual amount likely to be sold is closer to $4.5 billion, which could mitigate the risk of massive market disruption.
Despite these positive forecasts, Bitcoin was trading at $55,140 at the time of writing, reflecting a 6.5% decline over the past 24 hours and over 10% for the week.
Since the transfer occurred around 03:30, news of it appears to have contributed to the cryptocurrency’s price dropping below the $56,000 mark shortly thereafter.
