Bitcoin and major cryptocurrencies experienced sharp declines during Asian trading hours, reversing gains made earlier in the week.
The price drop was attributed partly to concerns of large BTC sales from the defunct Mt. Gox exchange, which is set to distribute assets stolen in a 2014 hack later this month.
One trader continues to predict a BTC price of $150,000 this year, despite the short-term turbulence.
Bitcoin (BTC) led declines in Asian trading hours as major tokens wiped out gains made at the start of the week.
BTC dropped to $60,900 from over $62,000 shortly after Tokyo markets opened, with losses of up to 3% across ether (ETH), Solana’s SOL and dogecoin (DOGE). XRP was little changed while Cardano’s ADA pared some gains from a Tuesday rally as its development foundation published certain indicators to comply with European regulatory requirements.
The broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20), a liquid index of the biggest tokens, has fallen more than 1.7% in the past 24 hours.
The declines came as U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking bitcoin recorded outflows of $13 million, breaking a five-day streak of inflows.
Concerns that large BTC sales would follow distributions by the defunct Mt. Gox exchange probably contributed to bearish sentiment, Singapore-based QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast on Tuesday,
“The Mt Gox release is also slated to happen this week,” QCP Capital said. “This overhang of up to 140,000 BTC should continue to weigh on markets, especially since the exact release schedule is unknown right now.”
Mt. Gox will start distributing assets stolen from clients in a 2014 hack in July 2024, after years of postponed deadlines. The repayments will be made in bitcoin and bitcoin cash, and could possibly add selling pressure to both markets, as previously reported.
However, some traders’ long-term bullish outlooks remains intact, with expectations of a rally of up to $150,000 after the Mt. Gox distribution is completed.
“One of the biggest overhangs is going to disappear in July, I think it’s a reason to expect a sharp rebound in the second half,” Tom Lee, the head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors, said in a CNBC interview Tuesday. “$150 [thousand] is within …”
Lee first said in February that he expects BTC to reach $150,000 in 2024 because of demand from the spot ETFs, the reward halving and Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts.
