On Friday, Mt. Gox’s trustee initiated repayments of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to some of the failed exchange’s creditors, setting in motion the rehabilitation plan that was approved by a Tokyo court in September.
According to Arkham Intelligence, the trustee transferred hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin to Bitbank and other crypto exchanges on July 5. In total, 2.701,8 BTC were moved, worth $148,4 million at the time of the transaction.
The Mt. Gox trustee said payments to other creditors will be made promptly, once their details and those of the platforms from which they will receive their respective payments are confirmed.
Many creditors of the failed exchange, who have been waiting for a decade to get their cryptocurrencies back, are hoping to receive their refunds in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash before October 31, the deadline for the repayment of cryptocurrencies that was set in the exchange's rehabilitation plan approved by the courts last year.
138.985 BTC remain under the control of Mt. Gox
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, after Friday’s moves, 138.985 BTC, worth approximately $7.520 billion, are still held in wallet addresses associated with Mt. Gox.
The start of Mt. Gox's repayments to its creditors triggered a significant correction in the price of Bitcoin. These payments had caused great nervousness in the crypto community, which fears that the possible oversupply of bitcoins on the market will create greater selling pressure on the cryptocurrency and, therefore, further accentuate its price correction.
At the time of writing this article, the bitcoin price remains trading above $58.000. The market-leading cryptocurrency touched $53.000 on Thursday, a day before the exchange's refunds began, and has recovered 8% since then.
Source: CoinMarketCap
Despite Bitcoin’s slight recovery, the cryptocurrency market is still in a state of suspense due to the uncertainty surrounding Mt. Gox refunds, which are compounded by concerns over the continued sale of bitcoins by the German government and cooling investor interest in cryptocurrency ETFs.
As mentioned above, the current Mt. Gox refund process could be extended into October. These future releases could trigger further corrections in the BTC price over the next few months.
Crypto community remains optimistic despite current nervousness
However, despite the current anxiety over the price of Bitcoin, some analysts and investors believe that the crypto market may be overreacting to the exchange refunds and that their impact in the coming months could be less significant than expected.
21Shares, a leading investment firm and exchange-traded fund issuance firm, which operates a Bitcoin spot ETF in the United States alongside Ark Invest, noted that the correction experienced by the BTC price in the last week was much needed to eliminate excess speculation and allow for healthy consolidation of the cryptocurrency price.
In the report Bitcoin June Jitters: What Happened This Month in Crypto?, 21Shares commented that:
¨Bitcoin continues to trade at a higher level than in previous cycles, and the ongoing dynamics help strengthen the foundation for Bitcoin's future growth¨.
The company also stated that Bitcoin's price has been significantly impacted over the past week by miners selling BTC and stressed that upcoming releases of the cryptocurrency by Mt. Gox pose much less of a threat than previously thought.
¨Mt. Gox creditors are early adopters of cryptocurrencies and probably still believe in Bitcoin, so selling pressure may be milder than expected as these people have a longer-term view¨He said.
In conclusion, the Mt. Gox Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash refund process has begun and is expected to be completed by October 31. Despite the uncertainty generated by this process in the market, several analysts and investors are optimistic and believe that the leading cryptocurrency will continue to demonstrate its potential as a store of value in the long term.
