Bitcoin Prices Drop As Mt. Gox Plans To Return Stolen Assets In July

According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin is experiencing a significant decrease in prices, with a drop of over 5% in the past 24 hours, bringing it to its lowest level since early May. This sharp decline comes as the trustee for the now-defunct Mt. Gox crypto exchange announced plans to return more than 140,000 BTC to clients in July. These assets were stolen in a 2014 hack. The market is currently contemplating the impact of this large amount of Bitcoin being reintroduced in less than a month. To put this into perspective, the number is slightly less than the immediate liquidation of Fidelity's spot Bitcoin ETF, which currently holds 167,375 Bitcoin. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, believes that the distribution will cause less Bitcoin sell pressure than the market expects. His research suggests that 75% of creditors will opt for the 'early' payout in July, equating to a distribution of approximately 95,000 coins. Thorn estimates that 65,000 of these coins will go to individual creditors, who he believes may prove more resilient than expected. This resilience is attributed to the fact that these creditors have already resisted years of aggressive offers from claims funds, as well as the capital gains taxes involved, given that Bitcoin's value has increased 140-fold since the bankruptcy. Thorn also suggests that the majority of partners in the claims funds are high net worth Bitcoin holders looking to increase their holdings at a discount, rather than traders looking for a quick profitable trade.