Markets
Bitcoin (BTC) Price Hits $65,000 Amid Mt. Gox Payout Concerns; Ripple’s XRP Leads Crypto Rally
Cryptocurrency rebound from last week’s low shows no signs of stopping with Bitcoin (BTC) reaching its highest price in four weeks on Tuesday.
BTC has broken above the $65,000 level for the first time since late June, shrugging off a drop below $63,000 earlier in the day as wallets linked to the estate of defunct exchange Mt. Gox were hit by a surge in the number of people who were killed. moved $2.8 billion worth of BTClikely preparing to distribute assets to creditors in the coming days.
The rally in cryptocurrencies has been broad-based, with the market benchmark CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) gaining nearly 3% over the past 24 hours with 16 of the 20 constituents in the green on the day.
XRP is the strongest performer among major cryptocurrencies (XRP)the native token of payment network XRP Ledger, up 9% on Tuesday and extending its weekly gains to 35%.
The token’s rally is being supported by whales, or large holders of assets, increasing their holdings, a sign of conviction in higher prices, according to crypto data provider Santiment. underlines.
Another catalyst was traditional derivatives trading giants CME and CF Benchmarks. announcing indices and reference rates for XRP. These offerings could boost institutional adoption of XRP, said Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, a blockchain payments company closely tied to the cryptocurrency. suggested.
Mt. Gox Selling Pressure ‘Overstated’
As BTC sales in Germany lag, crypto investors are wondering how much of the $9 billion worth of bitcoin about to be distributed to creditors will be dumped into the market to capitalize on the asset’s appreciation after a decade of waiting.
Ki Young Ju, CEO of cryptocurrency analytics firm CryptoQuant, argued that fears about selling pressure are “overstated” and will not derail the ongoing crypto rally.
“I believe this distribution will not end the bullish trend, as the coins should react to market sentiment in the same way as the existing supply of bitcoin,” he explained in a statement. X post“Unlike the German government sale, Mt. Gox’s creditors are not obligated to sell, so it’s not just about liquidity on the sell side.”
Alex Krüger, a widely followed crypto and macroeconomic analyst, has estimated a maximum price drop of 10% for bitcoin if creditors dump their recovered assets en masse, Ju noted.
CoinMetrics also said the market should absorb Mt. Gox creditors liquidating their assets if it happens in an orderly manner and spread out over several weeks based on current bitcoin market depth and trading volumes.
“The distribution of ~65,000 BTC (worth ~$1.95 billion at current prices) could potentially be absorbed by the market over a period of a few weeks without causing serious disruption, assuming liquidations are carried out gradually and across multiple exchanges,” CoinMetrics analysts wrote in a report published Tuesday.
“These results, however, only suggest the depth and maturity of the BTC market, but should allay fears of a short-term liquidity shortage.”