Bitcoin falls to its lowest level since late February, breaching significant price support.
On early Friday, the now-defunct exchange Mt. Gox transferred 47,228 BTC from cold storage to a new address.
Bitcoin (BTC) continued its downward trend during Friday’s Asian trading hours, with Mt. Gox moving a substantial amount of BTC to a new wallet, potentially preparing for creditor repayments.
The leading cryptocurrency by market value dropped over 4%, falling to $53,400, the lowest since February 26, according to data from TradingView and CoinDesk.
At 00:27 UTC, Mt. Gox transferred 47,228 BTC (worth $2.6 billion) from cold storage to a new wallet, as reported by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. The exchange is set to begin distributing assets stolen from clients in a 2014 hack.
The upcoming repayments, which include 140,000 BTC ($7.73 billion), 143,000 BCH, and Japanese yen, were announced last month. Since then, traders have been concerned that creditors, who have been waiting for reimbursements for a decade, will quickly sell their coins upon receipt, creating significant selling pressure in the market. Notably, BTC was trading at roughly $600 when the exchange was hacked in 2014, compared to over $55,000 today.
Several analysts have attempted to reassure the market, suggesting that the selling pressure from these repayments would be limited, but their efforts have not succeeded. BTC has declined 10% in the past seven days and 22% over the last four weeks.
The sharp sell-off has turned the horizontal support at $56,500, based on May’s lows, into resistance. Additionally, the bears have gained control below the crucial 200-day SMA and the bull market trendline.
