After over a decade of suspense, creditors of the defunct Mt. Gox Bitcoin (BTC) exchange have finally begun receiving long-awaited payouts this month. Data from research firm Glassnode shows that as of Tuesday, 59,000 of Mt. Gox’s 142,000 BTC had already been distributed to creditors via the Kraken and Bitstamp exchanges, with another 79,600 BTC to follow soon.
Muted Selling Pressure Expected?
According to a recent report by Glassnode, the total recovered coin volume amounts to over 141,686 BTC, with nearly 59,000 BTC already finding their way to creditors and the remaining sum awaiting distribution.
Kraken and Bitstamp have been entrusted as one of the five designated exchanges responsible for managing and disbursing these funds. Kraken has received 49,000 BTC and Bitstamp the initial tranche of 10,000 BTC.
Notably, the firm noted that the size of these distributions already surpasses recent significant transactions in the cryptocurrency space, including crypto ETF inflows, issuance to miners, and the massive selling pressure experienced by the German government between June and July.
However, creditors opted to receive BTC rather than fiat currency, which was a new option under the Japanese bankruptcy law, suggesting that many of the creditors remain active in the Bitcoin space, despite the extensive legal process.
This active participation may indicate that only a subset of the distributed coins will enter the market for sale, according to Glassnode’s analysis, which may indicate a long-term holding strategy among creditors. This ultimately supports BTC’s price rather than having an impact that could result in further price declines for the largest cryptocurrency on the market.
Additionally, an analysis of the spot cumulative volume delta (CVD) metric on Kraken and Bitstamp shows only a marginal uptick in sell-side pressure, suggesting creditors may be more inclined to hold onto their BTC for the long term.
Long-Term Bitcoin Holders Pile In
Also supporting Bitcoin’s price over the past month, which has rebounded nearly 25% after hitting a 6-month low of $53,500 on July 5. Long-term holders of the largest cryptocurrency on the market have been on a buying spree, according to market expert Ali Martinez, who recently revealed that these investors have added over 110,000 BTC to their portfolios.
Similarly, the Bitcoin ETF market has had its share of the recent recovery seen in BTC’s price over the past month, with the latest data showing further inflows into the regulated market in the US.
According to SoSo Value data, Bitcoin ETFs in the US saw a total of $124 million in new inflows on Monday, although Grayscale’s GBTC ETF saw outflows of about $54 million. BlackRock’s IBIT ETF had the most inflows for the day, with $206 million.
All this has contributed to BTC’s price consolidation between $65,000 and $68,000 over the past few days, with an eye on a potential retest of the all-time high of $73,500 reached in March this year.
Currently, the largest cryptocurrency on the market is trading at $66,000, down 2.5% over the past 24 hours and 1.5% over the past week.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com