Bitcoin Faces Selling Pressure Following Mt. Gox’s Internal Coin Movements

Bitcoin (BTC) encountered renewed selling pressure on Tuesday as blockchain data revealed that the defunct exchange Mt. Gox had initiated internal coin movements, potentially for repayments to creditors. The leading cryptocurrency briefly dropped 3%, slipping below $63,000 after testing the $65,000 mark in early Asian trading hours, as reported by CoinDesk.

The decline was triggered by a transfer from the Mt. Gox wallet, moving 0.021 BTC ($1,000) to the blockchain address 1EoZd1QNCiN9JbnsqvLRDbHKLygAsXHg3V. This small transaction, believed to be a test transfer, was followed by a substantial movement of 44,527 BTC ($2.84 billion) to an internal wallet, according to data from Arkham Intelligence. On-chain analyst Lookonchain suggested that this movement was likely part of the repayment plan.

Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest bitcoin exchange, collapsed in 2014 following a hack that resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of bitcoin. The exchange commenced its debt repayment process on July 4, sparking concerns of potential mass selling by creditors who have been awaiting reimbursements for a decade.

The downward pressure on Bitcoin had a ripple effect on the broader market, with ether, the second-largest digital asset by market value, declining over 2.5% to $3,400. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), a comprehensive market indicator, also dropped over 2% to 2,182.