The Bitcoin price fell below the $60,000 psychological mark on July 3, threatening to prolong the current price consolidation as Mt. Gox potentially starts releasing $9 billion worth of BTC.
Bitcoin fell 4.2% in the 24 hours leading up to 10:33 am UTC on 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’s 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 toward 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 digital asset hedge fund Capriole Investments.
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 cash out after a decade of untouched profits.
However, the $9 billion from Mt. Gox could be absorbed by the institutional inflows to the United States-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The ETFs have amassed over $52.5 billion worth of BTC since they launched in January, according to Dune.
Did Bitcoin whales cause Bitcoin to fall below $60,000?
A whale, or large Bitcoin holding entity, may have caused Bitcoin’s price to fall below the all-important psychological mark.
An unknown whale sold $180 million worth of Bitcoin within three minutes — an extremely high amount to be sold at market value in such a short time.
Popular industry watcher Zaheer discovered the large sale based on the chart below, according to a July 3 X post.
Contributing to the price decline, another unknown whale has deposited 1,723 BTC worth over $168 million to Binance during the past 24 hours, according to Lookonchain.
The Bitcoin whale’s transfer to the world’s largest crypto exchange suggests that the entity is looking to sell and lock in profits.
