A ghost from the crypto graveyard has stirred.
The now-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox has recently moved 37,477 Bitcoin — valued at $2.5 billion at current prices — to an undisclosed wallet address.
Blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence reports that Mt. Gox transferred the 37,477 BTC to a new address at 4:53 am UTC on July 24.
Out of this total, 5,106 BTC were further moved to a separate cold wallet controlled by Mt. Gox.
This transaction follows less than 24 hours after the exchange moved $2.8 billion in BTC to various wallets on July 22, with $340 million of that amount directed to four wallets associated with the crypto exchange Bitstamp.
Bitstamp is one of the five exchanges that collaborates with the Mt. Gox trustee to return funds to creditors.
According to data from CryptoQuant, as of the time of publication, just over 40% of the Bitcoin owed to Mt. Gox creditors has been distributed, leaving 60% — or $5.6 billion — still to be returned to creditors.
The specter of a massive Bitcoin sell-off has loomed large as Mt. Gox begins to repay its creditors. Approximately $9 billion worth of Bitcoin is owed to around 127,000 individuals and entities who have been waiting over a decade for recompense following the exchange’s catastrophic collapse in 2014.
However, experts are tempering expectations. Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorne suggests that much of the Bitcoin will be retained by institutional investors, and even individual creditors may be inclined to hold onto their recovered funds. Market analysts further contend that the potential impact of Mt. Gox on Bitcoin’s price has largely been factored in.
