The bitcoin price is not looking good, its value has fallen below 20,000 euros. There could be several reasons for this, and in this article we look at one of them: Mt.Gox is returning 137,000 bitcoin to customers as of today. What does this mean for the market?
Bitcoin price back below 20,000
In the dead of night, bitcoin has begun a decline. This drop looks very dramatic on the chart below, but in reality BTC is down 1% from yesterday. The current bitcoin price is 19,838 euros, which is the first time since July 13 that the value has dropped below 20,000 euros.
Mt.Gox and the 137,000 bitcoin
The news is that victims of the hacked crypto exchange Mt.Gox will receive some of their bitcoin back. A total of 137,000 bitcoin will be returned. The fear is that these may all be dumped, which could of course have a negative impact on the bitcoin price.
However, this fear is somewhat exaggerated. The bitcoins are not all being distributed at the same time, but gradually. Victims were given the option during the registration request to get their bitcoin early, in a partial lump sum payment or to wait until the end of the civil rehabilitation once more funds are available for disbursement.
Process for bitcoin payout may take months
Disbursement will begin in late August, according to documentation from court-appointed trustee Nobauaki Kobayashi.
"After consultation with the Court and in accordance with the Rehabilitation Plan, the Rehabilitation Trustee intends to determine the allocation etc. Restriction Reference Period from about the end of August this year until all or part of the repayments made as initial repayments are completed for safe repayments," Kobayashi said.
According to crypto analyst Danny Devan, this process could take several months and does not pose an immediate threat to bitcoin's price.
https://twitter.com/dannydevan/status/1563548008305766402
"There is so much false information circulating on Twitter, so let's clear something up. Mt.Gox is not releasing ALL 137,000 bitcoin tomorrow. It will start the refund process tomorrow so that creditors start receiving their bitcoin. The whole process will take months!," Devan tweeted on 27 August.
Will the bitcoins be dumped?
Rather than all bitcoins being dumped at once, and the price seeing a mega-crash, it looks more like a slow path down. At least, that is if you assume the bitcoins are actually sold.
In reality, creditors have been through several bitcoin cycles, they have seen the price go up and down and also know that the crypto market is now in a bear market.
https://twitter.com/milesdeutscher/status/1545765061267836929
Miles Deutscher says above that there is a good chance that large funds have already taken over the bitcoins of smaller creditors. Those looking to sell have probably already sold.
Mt.Gox first major bitcoin exchange in the world
Mt.Gox was the first and (at the time) largest bitcoin exchange in the world. Mt.Gox opened in July 2010 and was taken over by Mark Karpeles in 2011.
However, things did not go well under his leadership. In 2011, the exchange suffered a hack which resulted in the loss of a great deal of bitcoin. In the years which followed, bitcoin was gradually stolen from the exchange's wallets. A total of 850,000 bitcoins were lost.
In 2014, Mt. Gox announced its bankruptcy and creditors now seem to be able to finally be paid.
https://www.indexuniverse.eu/bitcoin-falls-below-20000-euros-fears-over-mt-gox-dump/
Comments
Post a Comment