Mt. Gox has begun the process of repaying creditors by transferring a small amount of Bitcoin to designated exchanges, as reported by Arkham Intel. Speculation and planning have been ongoing for months regarding the disbursement of around $8.2 billion in Bitcoin owed to creditors of the now-defunct exchange.
Today, three wallets associated with Mt. Gox conducted transactions, with the most significant involving the transfer of $24 in Bitcoin to a wallet that then sent the funds to Bitbank’s hot wallet. Bitbank, along with other authorized exchanges like Kraken, Bitstamp, SBI VC Trade, and Bitgo, will make these funds available to customers within 90 days.
There is uncertainty surrounding these transactions as the funds did not come directly from the primary Mt. Gox wallets. Observers speculate if this is a test before larger transfers for creditor repayment. The Mt. Gox Rehabilitation Trustee had planned to start the repayment process in July, but specific dates have not been disclosed.
The movement of funds coincides with a volatile period for Bitcoin, which has seen a price drop of over 20% from $72,000 to around $57,700.
Peter Chung, Head of Research at Presto Research, anticipates significant trading opportunities due to the Mt. Gox repayments. He expects changes in supply/demand dynamics for Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) between July and October. He advises on potential trading strategies, including pairing long BTC with short BCH.
At the time of writing, BTC was trading at $57,727.