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Defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has denied rumors of making repayments to creditors through designated cryptocurrency exchanges.
In an official announcement, Mt. Gox stated that they have not initiated direct repayments of Bitcoin (BTC) or Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and have not sold any of their holdings to fund repayments.
“The Rehabilitation Trustee is currently managing Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in a secure manner. As the Rehabilitation Trustee is proceeding with the preparation for the above repayments, please wait for a while until the repayments are made,” the announcement reads.
During the early hours of Tuesday, wallets associated with Mt. Gox began transferring over 140,000 BTC, worth approximately $9 billion, to an unknown address. The move marks the first movement of assets from Mt. Gox’s cold wallets in over five years.
The wallet activity involved thirteen transactions, the first of which was a small test transaction of $3 on May 20.
Another smaller transaction of $160 was conducted on Tuesday, followed by several transactions ranging from $1.2 million to $2.2 billion worth of Bitcoin.
All of Mt. Gox’s coins have now been consolidated into a single Bitcoin wallet, as reported by Bitinfocharts data.
Key Takeaways
- Mt. Gox has denied rumors of making repayments to creditors or selling their Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash holdings to fund repayments.
- Recently, wallets associated with Mt. Gox transferred over 140,000 BTC, worth approximately $9 billion.
- The transfer is believed to be part of Mt. Gox’s plan to repay creditors by the October 31, 2024 deadline.
- The movement of such a large amount of Bitcoin has caused market fluctuations, with a drop in Bitcoin’s price due to selling pressure concerns.
- Despite potential market impacts from Mt. Gox’s asset movements, Bitcoin ETFs have shown strong growth, with global holdings surpassing 1 million BTC.
Mt. Gox Prepares for Repayment
The transfer of assets is believed to be part of Mt. Gox’s plan to distribute the funds back to creditors before the October 31, 2024 deadline.
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès expressed a similar view on X.
“The Trustee is transferring the tokens to another wallet in preparation for potential distributions this year and will not immediately sell Bitcoin,” he said.
As far as I know everything is fine with MtGox. The trustee is moving coins to a different wallet in preparation of the distribution that will likely happen this year, there is no imminent sale of bitcoins happening.
— Mark Karpelès (@MagicalTux) May 28, 2024
Market analysts had previously warned that the movement of Mt. Gox-era Bitcoin would likely have an impact on the market and could create selling pressure on the cryptocurrency.
The transfer of such a substantial amount of Bitcoin has caused some market participants to turn bearish, leading to a 1.4% drop in the cryptocurrency’s price since the start of Asian trading hours.
The price dipped to as low as $67,680 after reaching a high of over $70,000 on Monday. As of now, the leading cryptocurrency is trading at $68,500, largely flat over the past day, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Mt. Gox, once the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, collapsed in 2014 following multiple hacks that resulted in the loss of over 800,000 Bitcoins. Since then, creditors have anxiously awaited the repayment of their holdings.
Over $9.4 billion worth of Bitcoin is owed to Mt. Gox’s 127,000 creditors, with the final repayment deadline set for October 31, 2024. The trustee overseeing the rehabilitation process began contacting creditors earlier this year to confirm their identities and exchange accounts for repayment.
Last year, some creditors of Mt. Gox reported receiving fiat repayments for their trapped Bitcoin on the social media platform Reddit.
The first instance of these new Mt. Gox repayments was reported in December last year, when a pseudonymous Japanese user announced that they had received their Mt. Gox claims via a bank transfer credited in Japanese Yen.
Bitcoin ETFs Now Hold Over 1 Million BTC
Despite concerns surrounding a potential sell-off of BTC by Mt. Gox, the growth of Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) remains strong. Just recently, Bitcoin ETFs globally surpassed 1 million BTC in holdings.
Since the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States in mid-January, the 11 ETFs have accumulated a total of 855,619 BTC. On average, these ETFs have been acquiring approximately 6,200 BTC per day.
Data from HODL15Capital reveals that an additional 21 Bitcoin exchange-traded products offered in countries such as Canada, Germany, and Brazil have contributed to the overall holdings, bringing the total to 1,002,343 BTC. This amounts to an estimated value of $68 billion.
32 #Bitcoin Spot ETFs now hold ~1 Nakamoto of $BTC pic.twitter.com/OpHridlymc
— Michael Saylor?? (@saylor) May 27, 2024
The combined BTC holdings of these ETFs account for approximately 5.08% of the total circulating supply of Bitcoin, which currently stands at 19,704,484.
Among the Bitcoin ETFs, Grayscale’s GBTC remains the largest fund, holding 289,040 coins valued at around $19.9 billion. However, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is quickly catching up, with 287,168 BTC worth approximately $19.8 billion.
If the inflows to IBIT remain steady and GBTC continues to outflow, IBIT may surpass GBTC as the largest Bitcoin ETF this week.
It’s worth noting that Grayscale has experienced significant outflows, with approximately 330,960 BTC, equivalent to 53% of its previous holdings, being transferred since GBTC converted into a spot ETF in mid-January.
The Bottom Line
Mt. Gox has denied rumors of making repayments to creditors through cryptocurrency exchanges or selling their Bitcoin holdings to fund repayments. The announcement came after 140,000 BTC, worth approximately $9 billion, were transferred from Mt. Gox’s cold wallets, spooking the market.
