Markets
Drops to $54K as Mt Gox and German government dump fears grow By Investing.com
Investing.com– Bitcoin’s price fell sharply to a four-month low on Friday, extending a recent price slide, as growing signs of an imminent distribution by now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt Gox increased selling pressure on the token.
German police were also seen moving around $75 million worth of confiscated cryptocurrency from a piracy site to exchanges, potentially heralding a mass sale event as seen earlier this year.
has fallen 8.5% in the past 24 hours to $54,092.3 — its weakest level since March. The token has also fallen more than 11% in the past seven days.
Mt Gox wallet activity shakes Bitcoin
Wallets associated with the now-defunct Mt Gox exchange have been seen performing test transactions, raising concerns about an imminent rollout by the exchange.
Mt Gox liquidators said in June that they will begin returning Bitcoin stolen during a 2014 hack to customers starting in early July. Traders have speculated that most recipients of the tokens will be inclined to sell them, given that Bitcoin’s price has risen exponentially over the past decade.
Such a scenario has put enormous selling pressure on Bitcoin, and caused traders to abandon the token, also ensuring strong profits so far in 2024.
Fears of additional sales by German police also weighed.
Cryptocurrency Price Today: Political Uncertainty and Rate Jitters Affect Prices
Broader cryptocurrency prices followed Bitcoin’s sharp declines, with uncertainty over the US presidential election and interest rates also weighing on weak sentiment towards cryptocurrencies.
Speculation that President Joe Biden may drop out of the race as the Democratic nominee for the 2024 election has created some uncertainty in cryptocurrency markets, especially amid concerns that Biden will be replaced by an even more crypto-averse candidate.
Additionally, uncertainty ahead of a key US reading has also kept investors averse to cryptocurrencies, even as they dipped on rising expectations of an interest rate cut in September.
Cryptocurrency markets have lagged far behind the stock rally they usually follow.
The world’s No. 2 token fell 10.5% to $2,902.42, erasing all gains made in late May and hitting a nearly two-month low.
and fell between 7% and 17%, while among meme tokens, and lost more than 16% each.
The losses were also driven in part by low trading volumes due to the July 4 holiday in the U.S. market. But they also reflected a steadily declining sentiment toward crypto as hype over the approval of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund dried up.