Mt. Gox shifts $9B in BTC, market braces for impact

Mt. Gox moves $3 billion in Bitcoin to an unknown wallet, mobilizing funds for the first time in two weeks, according to Arkham Intelligence.
Mt. Gox moves $3 billion in Bitcoin to an unknown wallet, mobilizing funds for the first time in two weeks, according to Arkham Intelligence.

Update July 16, 09:00 UTC: This article has been updated to reflect the updated outflows of BTC from the Mt. Gox labeled address on Arkham Intelligence.

In three hours on July 16, Mt. Gox has moved over 140,000 Bitcoin, worth almost $9 billion, to a known cold wallet and two unknown addresses.

According to Arkham Intelligence data, Mt. Gox still holds 138,985 Bitcoin (BTC) in its main wallet, worth around $8.7 billion and has begun mobilizing funds held for the first time in two weeks.

Two transactions saw almost 96,000 BTC, worth over $6 billion, shifted to two unknown wallets while the initial 44,527 BTC was sent to a known Mt. Gox cold wallet.

Arkham Intelligence data showing over 140,000 BTC moved over the last three hours. Source: Arkham Intelligence.

Related: Bitcoin price CPI gains last just 1 hour as Mt. Gox sell-off fears linger

Over $6 billion moved in two hours

The combined volume of Mt. Gox’s BTC transactions on July 16 amounted to almost 190,000 BTC, accounting for over $12 billion in value moved in just three hours.

The unknown address, ending in “BHDct9b,” received 42,587 BTC worth $2.69 billion, while the remaining 4641.24 BTC worth $293.94 million was transferred to “Mt. Gox: Cold Wallet (1Jbez)."

The “BHDct9b” address has not yet transferred the 42,587 BTC, but the resulting fear in the market has caused its value to fall as market sentiment toward BTC shifts.

Shortly after, a further 48,641 BTC was sent to another unknown address, shifting another $3.07 billion in holdings out of the main Mt. Gox wallet.

Source: PeckShieldAlert

Related: Mt. Gox begins repayments in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash

Market response

The BTC price reached almost as high as $65,000 earlier on July 16 but fell to lows of $63,000 within hours.

The price drop is equivalent to over 3% for BTC, but the ripple effect led to over 5% price dips for altcoins like Uniswap (UNI), Polkadot (DOT), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Market sentiment turned bearish as BTC price began to fall an hour before the first Mt. Gox transaction on July 16, only to continue falling as further outflows hit unknown wallets.

CoinMarketCap 1-day chart depicting Bitcoin (BTC) price hitting $65,000 and falling as low as $62,400 over the last 24 hours. Source: CoinMarketCap

Related: Mt. Gox repayment shakes crypto market, causing volatility

Repayment repercussions

Mt. Gox announced on July 5 that it would begin repaying its BTC and BCH debts to creditors, stating that the repayments would be made to rehabilitation creditors via designated crypto exchanges.

The announcement cited the Rehabilitation Debtor as Mt. Gox Co. Ltd. and the Rehabilitation Trustee as Nobuaki Kobayashi, attorney-at-law.

The repayments statement indicated that the remaining rehabilitation creditors would receive funds “promptly” following the completion of prerequisite conditions.

As the main Mt. Gox wallet carried out over $9 billion in BTC outflows on July 16, the promise of prompt repayments could come to fruition before August.

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