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Cryptocurrencies plunged on Friday as investors focused on the payout of nearly US$9 billion to users of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.
As of 10:50 a.m. London time, bitcoin’s price slumped nearly 6 percent in 24 hours to hit US$54 500.53, marking the first time it’s traded below the US$55 000 level since February 27, according to data from CoinGecko.
Rival token ether sank around 9 percent to US$2 872.10.
Altogether, the entire cryptocurrency market has shed more than US$170 billion in combined market capitalisation in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.
On Friday, the trustee for the Mt. Gox bankruptcy estate, Nobuaki Kobayashi, said in a statement that it had begun making repayments in bitcoin and bitcoin cash to some of the creditors through a number of designated crypto exchanges.
Mt. Gox’s trustee didn’t specify how much money had been transferred to these exchanges.
He noted that the remaining funds would be returned to creditors once a series of conditions is met, including confirming the validity of registered accounts and completing discussions between the trustee and the designated crypto exchanges.
The trustee is still working to ensure repayments “can be made safely and securely,” Kobayashi wrote, urging “eligible rehabilitation creditors to wait for a while.”
It comes after a small amount of bitcoin was moved out of wallets associated with Mt. Gox, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, with the largest movement being a US$24 transfer to the Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank.
Bitbank is among the recipients listed to support repayments. — CNBC Africa.
Online Reporter