News circulated over the weekend that Mt. Gox’s liquidator was releasing 140,000 bitcoins. This caused panic – but it is wrong. At least for now.
It would have been the perfect storm. So perfect that some may even have wished for it. The market is under pressure anyway, the Fed is announcing an interest rate hike, the ECB will soon follow suit – and then around 140,000 Bitcoins will flow onto the market, which the insolvency administrator of the hacked Mt. Gox exchange will release.
You can literally hear the courses crashing to the ground.
Mt. Gox was by far the largest bitcoin exchange in the world. However, it was hacked in early 2014, stealing several hundred thousand bitcoins. The Tokyo stock exchange went bankrupt, and its founder Mark Karpeless had to go to a Japanese prison a little later. The specific causes of the hack have remained a mystery, as has the identity of the hacker. After all, the insolvency administrator managed to save around 141,000 Bitcoin, which are to be repaid to the creditors in a relatively complex and lengthy process.
In November 2021, bankruptcy trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi announced that the rescued bitcoins would be paid out to creditors. However, he gave no date.
It should be this week, according to various sources over the weekend. 141,000 bitcoins, that would be almost three billion euros, or almost half a year block reward. It would be, it said, “the biggest black swan in the Bitcoin ecosystem.”
In fact, it would be fatal if so many Bitcoins flooded the market in this market situation. The payment of the creditors does not necessarily mean that they sell the coins immediately. However, a bitcoin had a price of a few hundred euros at the time. Forced hodling increased it about 50-fold. With profits like this, many staunch long-term hodlers are likely to falter.
The good news, however, is that the bad news was a duck. Numerous creditors have already declared on social media that they know nothing about a payout. But the deathblow of the fake news came from the Twitter account of WizSec Research, the blockchain analysts tasked with salvaging the coins.
? This ? isn’t ? true. ?
But good job falling for the exact same market manipulation FUD for the hundredth time. pic.twitter.com/W99l36YxhB
— WizSec Bitcoin Research (@wizsecurity) August 28, 2022
As soon as the coins are being paid out, you will find out on the mtgox.com website. So you can breathe a sigh of relief – for now. Because at some point the moment will come when the 141,000 bitcoins will flow onto the market.
The sword of Damocles continues to hang over the market. One can only hope that when it falls, he will be ready to swallow it without injury.
