• Mt. Gox conducted small transfer tests today, preparing for the distribution of 140,000 BTC and 143,000 BCH.

  • Bitcoin price drops over 6% to the $51,000 zone, hitting a 5-month low.

Today, Mt. Gox initiated small transfer tests at 12:21 UTC+8, involving transactions such as sending 0.0001 BTC to Bitbank’s hot wallet and 0.0001862 BTC to unmarked addresses. These activities highlighted the anticipated distribution of 140,000 BTC and 143,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) by Mt. Gox, scheduled between July and October.

Mt. Gox Transaction (Source: Arkham )

Concerns are growing over the impact of upcoming Mt. Gox distributions on Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin recently saw a significant 5.81% decline, dropping from $60,558 to $57,043 amidst sell-offs across Asian and US trading hours. 

This downturn has also affected Ethereum, Solana, and XRP, each experiencing approximately 6% declines. Additionally, the global cryptocurrency market cap has fallen by over 4.5% to $2.13 trillion—marking its lowest point since February 2024.

Analysts Perspective on the Mt. Gox Sell-Off

Analysts like Tom Lee of Fundstrat Global Advisors offer a perspective, suggesting that while the immediate impact is bearish, removing this long-standing overhang could pave the way for a strong rebound in Bitcoin’s price later in the year. 

On the other hand, Presto Labs’ Head of Research stated that the selling pressure from Mt. Gox’s Bitcoin holdings is expected to affect Bitcoin Cash disproportionately. The analysts predict that BCH could experience up to 24% of its daily trading value affected, compared to 6% for BTC. This disparity reflects differing investor sentiments and strategies between the two cryptocurrencies.

In that case, he suggested strategic approaches such as long positions in BTC perpetual paired with short positions in BCH perpetual being considered by market participants to manage risk and capitalize on market-neutral opportunities.

Bitcoin Cash is currently trading at $346, down by 6.86%, according to CoinMarketCap data. Additionally, the daily trading volume of BCH drops over 11% to $278 million.

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