In a few days, bankrupt Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, will begin paying back thousands of users roughly $9 billion worth of tokens.
Today, the world's largest cryptocurrency is trading at about $61,000 per coin. That means users opting to be reimbursed in-kind — that is, in the cryptocurrency itself, rather than the cash equivalent — have seen the value of their coins surge over 10,000% in the last decade. It wouldn't be the first time bitcoin's moved in reaction to big redemptions of funds locked up in centralized trading platforms.
"Assuming most of the liquidations by Mt. Gox creditors take place in July, creates a trajectory where crypto prices come under further pressure in July, but start rebounding from August onwards," they wrote. "Bitcoin has maintained a daily trading volume of $8.74 billion on trusted exchanges this year, suggesting that liquidity is sufficient to absorb these sales over the summer months," said Butterfill.
"Most of the individual creditors will have their coins deposited directly into a trading account at an exchange, making it extremely easy to sell," Thorn said.