U.Today – The infamous cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has made headlines again as major transfers have begun from its cold wallet. In just the last few hours, more than 107,000 BTC worth more than $7.2 billion have been transferred in several tranches to an unknown address.
While massive withdrawals have been made, the Mt. Gox wallet still contains over 30,000 BTC, which is worth around $2 billion at the current exchange rate. This activity comes ahead of the promised distribution of funds to creditors by October 31, 2024.
The sudden transfer of such a huge amount has caused concern among market participants. Fears of a possible sell-off caused the price of BTC to fall by more than 4%, with the total market capitalization falling by almost $100 billion in less than 12 hours.
Adding to market anxiety was the withdrawal of funds from Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. A total of $289 million worth of USDT was transferred to an unidentified address.
Typically, massive withdrawals from stock markets are considered bullish, indicating that large investors are moving assets into private portfolios for long-term storage.
This transfer, however, indicates that a significant amount of cryptocurrency was sold out on Binance, likely in response to the expected potential dumping of Mt. Gox Bitcoin.
In response to the uproar, Mark Karpeles, former CEO of Mt. Gox, clarified that moving cryptocurrencies from the exchange's wallet was part of preparations for a planned distribution of funds to creditors and did not indicate a sale.
This assurance brought some relief as BTC recovered a third of today's losses. However, market sentiment remains cautious, with most digital assets still in the red.
This article was originally published on U.Today.
