Bitcoin (BTC) dipped 2% on May 28 after wallets labeled as belonging to the collapsed crypto exchange Mt. Gox moved 75,021 Bitcoin (BTC) worth around $5 billion to an unknown wallet — with more transactions coming in by the hour.
The move is ahead of the defunct crypto exchange’s plan to return BTC holdings to creditors before October.
On-chain movement tracking X account Whale Alert posted a series of updates on May 28 X posts, noting four on-chain transactions of between 3,999 BTC to over 16,500 BTC within one hour.
Blockchain explorer Arkham Intelligence shows the four transaction hashes on May 28 from 1:41 am to 2:54 am UTC including a total of 21 transfers from multiple Mt. Gox cold wallets, with most moving 2,000 BTC at a time.
Mt. Gox moved an additional 32,137 BTC at 4:11 am UTC to the same address, bringing its total holdings to over $5 billion worth of Bitcoin.
All transactions pointed to a single unlabeled address. Arkham shows Mt. Gox still holds nearly 138,000 BTC worth over $9.36 billion.
Mt. Gox trustee firm Nagashima Ohno and Tsunematsu did not immediately respond to an inquiry on where and why the Bitcoin was moved.
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Bitcoin dropped around 2% in the wake of the moving Mt. Gox BTC, it’s now trading at $67,875 compared to $69,374 at the time of the first transfer, according to CoinMarketCap.
Last month, K33 Research analysts warned the move of Mt. Gox-era Bitcoin would “spook the market” and price-pressure the cryptocurrency.
Over $9.4 billion worth of Bitcoin is owed to some of Mt. Gox’s 127,000 creditors who have waited to get it back for over ten years after the exchange collapsed in 2014 after multiple unnoticed hacks.
Mt. Gox’s final repayment deadline is Oct. 31. Its trustee started contacting creditors in January to confirm their identity and exchange accounts for repayment.
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Update (May 28, 4:45 am UTC): This article has been updated to include details on an additional transfer and background information.
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