Bitcoin Nosedives Under $58K Amid Mt. Gox, German Government Wallet Movements

Bitcoin

(BTC)
plunged
under
$58,000
in
European
morning
hours,
extending
24-hour
losses
to
nearly
5%
and
dropping
to
prices
not
seen
since
early
May.

The
sell-off
came
as
wallets
belonging
to
defunct
crypto
exchange
Mt.
Gox
showed
signs
of
activity
for
the
first
time
in
a
month
and
the
German
Federal
Criminal
Police
Office
moved
over
$75
million
to
crypto
exchanges.

“Among
the
top
reasons
for
the
price
drop
was
the
German
government
moving
more
than
$50
million
to
crypto
exchanges,
creating
sell
speculation
in
the
market,”
Lucy
Hu,
a
senior
analyst
at
crypto
investment
firm
Metalpha,
said
in
a
Telegram
message.

Mt.
Gox
is
scheduled
to
start
distributing
assets
stolen
from
clients
in
a
2014
hack
this
month,
although
it
is
unclear
when,
after
years
of
postponed
deadlines.
The
repayments
will
be
made
in
bitcoin
and
bitcoin
cash

(BCH)
and
could
add
selling
pressure
to
both
markets,
as
previously
reported.

Wallets
tracked
by
Arkham
show
Mt.
Gox
wallets
conducted
test
transactions
in
during
the
Asian
morning,
moving
a
total
of
$25
worth
of
bitcoin
across
three
transactions
to
different
wallets.

Entities
holding
large
amounts
of
tokens
are
known
to
move
insignificant
amounts
between
wallets
before
larger
transfers
–
which
may
indicate
an
intention
to
sell.

Arkham
data
also
showed
the

German
entity
moved
$175
million
in
BTC
to
various
wallets,
$75
million
of
which
was
sent
to
crypto
exchanges
Kraken
and
Coinbase.
Arkham
CEO
Miguel
More
previously
told
CoinDesk
that
transfers
from
a
wallet
to
an
exchange
may
indicate
an
intent
to
sell
tokens.

Meanwhile,
bitcoin
has
now
fallen
below
a

widely
followed
technical
indicator
for
the
first
time
since
October,
signaling
a
possible
downtrend
in
the
months
ahead.