Bitcoin sinks to $53,800, altcoins bleed following Mt. Gox's billion transfer

Key Takeaways

• Bitcoin dropped below $54,000 following a $2.7 billion BTC transfer by Mt. Gox.
• The transfer is linked to a repayment plan to distribute over $9 billion to creditors.

Bitcoin’s value fell to $57,000 late Thursday and hit a low of $53,800 in the early hours of Friday, according to data from TradingView. The extended correction came after a movement of $2.7 billion in Bitcoin from a Mt. Gox wallet to a new address yesterday.

On Thursday evening, a wallet controlled by Mt. Gox, the now-defunct crypto exchange, transferred 47,229 BTC , worth around $2.7 billion, to a new hot wallet, Arkham’s data shows.

The latest wallet activity is believed to be part of Mt. Gox’s trustee plan to distribute over $9 billion in Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, and fiat to creditors starting in July. The trustee publicly disclosed the repayment plan last month.

Bitcoin’s bearish momentum has been aggravated by Mt. Gox’s recent movements. There has been increased pressure over the past few weeks due to the German government’s and the US government’s Bitcoin transfers .

According to CoinShares, Mt. Gox’s creditor repayment could trigger panic sales across crypto markets. The worst-case scenario is a 19% daily drop if all BTC is sold concurrently. But this is a very unlikely one.

As Bitcoin loses momentum, altcoins bleed. Ethereum plunged below $3,000, shedding 10% in the last day, CoinGecko’s data shows.

In the past 24 hours, Binance Coin (BNB) and Toncoin (TON) plunged 12% and 13%, respectively. Dogecoin (DOGE) and Cardano (ADA) suffered steep drops of 15% each. TRON (TRX) was down 3.5%.

Fear grips the crypto market as the Fear and Greed Index plummets to 29, according to data from Alternative.me.