Bitcoin price plunges below $55k as Mt. Gox announces repayments
The price of Bitcoin has continued its descending movement, sliding under the $55,000 threshold, returning back to levels last seen in February.
Bitcoin’s (BTC) sell-off has intensified amid reports that the collapsed crypto exchange Mt. Gox moved over 47,000 BTC (worth around $2.6 billion) to a new wallet ahead of its $9 billion payout. At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin is $54,561, a mark last witnessed in February, when the largest by market capitalization cryptocurrency was surging to a new all-time high.
Following the transaction, Mt. Gox trustee officially confirmed on Jul. 5 during Friday’s Asian trading hours that the collapsed exchange “made repayments in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to some of the rehabilitation creditors.” The trustee didn’t specify though the amount of BTCs sent to creditors.
The crypto market has faced significant pressure recently, affecting both investor sentiment and miner operations following the April halving, which reduced mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. At Bitcoin’s current price, only five ASIC rigs from Avalon and Antminer remain profitable, according to f2pool’s X post.
The rapid drop below $55,000 has pressured speculators, resulting in $682 million in liquidations of both long and short positions across multiple exchanges, according to Coinglass.
Over the past 24 hours, more than 235,000 traders were liquidated, with the largest single liquidation order on Binance’s ETH/USDT trading pair valued at over $18.4 million. According to CoinGecko, the total crypto market capitalization dropped by over 8% to $2 trillion, increasing sell-offs among speculators.
As crypto.news reported earlier, TRON founder Justin Sun offered to help the industry by teasing his “willingness” to buy confiscated Bitcoins from the German government over-the-counter. It’s unclear when these negotiations will begin, but with the recent movement of Bitcoins to centralized exchanges from Germany-labeled addresses, Mt. Gox’s repayments have seemingly become the primary concern among traders.
