Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has transferred 47,229 BTC (valued at around $271 million) to a new wallet, marking the first significant transaction since July. The move, reported by blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence, took place around 03:30 Bulgarian time on July 5.
At the end of May this year, Mt. Gox’s wallet held around 137,892 BTC, valued at approximately $9.45 billion at that time. The exchange’s actions back then caused selling pressure on the price of Bitcoin.
In recent days, Mt. Gox has executed several smaller test transactions. This large transfer comes as the exchange prepares to begin distributing BTC tokens to creditors this month, with a total value of around $8.5 billion.
Market observers are concerned about the potential impact of releasing such a large volume of Bitcoin into the market, fearing a sell-off by Mt. Gox creditors who have been unable to access their assets for over a decade. Some analysts, however, estimate that the actual amount likely to be sold is closer to $4.5 billion, which could reduce the risk of a massive market disruption.
Despite these positive forecasts, at the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $55,140, reflecting a 6.5% decrease over the past 24 hours and over 10% for the week.
As the transfer occurred around 03:30, news of it appears to have contributed to the cryptocurrency’s price falling below the $56,000 level, as the downturn began shortly thereafter.