The infamous cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has once again hit the headlines , as significant transfers from its cold wallet have begun. In just the past few hours, over 107,000 BTC worth over $7.2 billion has been transferred in several tranches to an unknown address.
While massive withdrawals have been made, the Mt. Gox wallet still holds more than 30,000 BTC, which is worth about $2 billion at current exchange rates. This activity comes ahead of the promised distribution of funds to creditors by Oct. 31, 2024.
The sudden transfer of such a huge amount of Bitcoin has caused concerns among market participants. Fears of a possible sell-off caused the BTC price to fall by more than 4%, with the total market capitalization dropping by nearly $100 billion in less than 12 hours.
Adding to the market’s anxiety was a withdrawal of funds from Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. A total of $289 million worth of USDT was transferred to an unidentified address.
🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 🚨 289,087,080 #USDT (289,032,297 USD) transferred from #Binance to unknown wallethttps://t.co/6n0gRHX6jL
— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) May 28, 2024
Normally, massive withdrawals from exchanges are seen as bullish, signaling that large investors are moving assets to private wallets 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’s Bitcoin.
In response to the uproar, Mark Karpeles, former CEO of Mt. Gox, clarified that moving cryptocurrency from the exchange’s wallet was part of the preparations for a planned distribution of funds to creditors and did not signal a sale.
This assurance brought some relief, with BTC recovering a third of today’s losses. Nevertheless, market sentiment remains cautious, with most digital assets still in the red.