Crypto Markets Tumble Amid Mt. Gox Transfers

Crypto markets traded lower on Wednesday morning as traders reacted to more large transfers from the defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox.

Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 2% in the last 24 hours, while Ethereum (ETH) dropped by 3%. Polkadot (DOT) managed to rally 3%, but Solana (SOL) declined by 1%.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, BitTorrent (BTT) emerged as the top gainer, soaring 22%. Tron (TRX) followed with a 12% increase, and Polygon (MATIC) rose by 10%.

Tron’s rally was driven by memecoin traders flocking to the ecosystem after Sun.io launched the Sun Pump token launchpad. BitTorrent, also a Tron ecosystem project, likely benefited from Sun Pump’s growth as well.

Meanwhile, Litecoin (LTC), JasmyCoin (JASMY), and Helium (HNT) were the biggest losers, each falling by roughly 5%.

The combined market cap of cryptocurrencies is down 2.3% over the past 24 hours overall.

Mt. Gox distributions spook traders

The price drop comes as Mt. Gox appears to be preparing for another round of payouts to its creditors.

On Wednesday, Mt.Gox transferred approximately $75.36 million in Bitcoin to Bitstamp’s wallet address, likely igniting fear and selling pressure among investors.

The transfer came one day after an address linked to Mt. Gox transferred 13,265 BTC, worth $784 million, according to data from Arkham Intelligence. The exchange sent 12,000 BTC to an address labeled “1PuQB,” while the rest was sent to “1Jbez,” identified as Mt. Gox’s cold wallet.

Mt. Gox still holds more than 34,164 BTC worth more than $2 billion.

Five companies have been tasked with redistributing Mt. Gox’s holdings to creditors who held assets on the exchange at the time of its collapse, spanning Bitstamp, Bitgo, Kraken, Bitbank, and SBI VC Trade.

Despite the drawdowns, institutional capital has been flowing into U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded an aggregate inflow of $150 million during Aug. 19 and Aug. 20, according to data from Farside Investors. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) led the charge with $147 million, while the Ark 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB) received $51.9 million.

Stock markets dip

U.S. stocks are trending lower today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 0.20%, while the S&P 500 decreased by 0.22%, and the Nasdaq Composite slid by 0.25%.

These movements come as traders await the release of the Federal Reserve’s July meeting minutes today, which are expected to provide insights into future monetary policy decisions.

Most major Asian stock markets also pulled back during Wednesday’s session. Japan’s Nikkei 225 shed 0.29%, while the Taiwanese Taiex dipped 0.85%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng tumbled 0.69%. Australia’s All Ordinaries and Korea’s KOSPI index bucked the trend with gains of 0.32% and 0.17%, respectively.

Bitcoin’s growing dominance

Research from Glassnode, an on-chain analytics provider, shows Bitcoin’s share of the global crypto capitalization rising to 56% since tagging a low of 38% as the markets bottomed out in November 2022.

The dominance of Ethereum posted a 1.5% drop to 15.2%, while altcoins fell 5.9% to 21.3% from 27.2%, and stablecoins suffered the heaviest decline of 9.9% to 7.4% from 17.3%.