Bitcoin

Is the Mt. Gox ‘Bitcoin Whale’ Gearing Up for Another $170M Selloff?

Osato Avan-Nomayo · @OsatoNomayo | Apr 28, 2018 | 09:00

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Nobuaki Kobayashi, the infamous bitcoin whale, and the lead attorney for the Mt. Gox trust may be gearing up for another selloff.

Another Round from the Tokyo Bitcoin Whale

Kobayashi earned the moniker the “Tokyo bitcoin whale” when he sold $400 million worth of bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash from December 2017 to February 2018. The crypto sale is part of the efforts to pay off the credits of the defunct Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange that went bankrupt in 2014 after a major cryptocurrency hack.

The Tokyo bitcoin whale, Nobuaki Kobayashi

Cryptoground, which monitors Mt. Gox cold wallet addresses, shows that a significant amount of bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash had been transferred out on April 26. It is possible that this could have been an OTC (over-the-counter) sale, though no one can confirm the actual purpose of this transfer.

Nevertheless, this has led to some speculation that the Tokyo whale is gearing up for another major crypto sale. Mati Greenspan, a senior analyst at eToro, said that there is considerable concern in the market over the movement of coins out of the Mt. Gox wallet.

Reports indicate that 16,000 BTC and 16,000 BCH have been moved out of the wallet. This amounts to about $170 million at the current market price of the two cryptos. All eyes will be on the market now to see if there will be any significant price changes on account of the expected sale.

Potential Impact on the Market

Experts like Martin Garcia, managing director at Genesis, believe that if done properly, the crypto sale will little impact on the market. According to Garcia, the prevailing market dynamic at the time of the sale will determine if the sale can be absorbed without much price fluctuation.

When the first sale round become public, some believed that it had a negative impact on the market. The price of the cryptocurrencies declined dramatically between December 2017 and February 2018 when Kobayashi was making the sales. The Mt. Gox trustee did, however, deny the claims, saying the cryptocurrencies were sold over-the-counter.

In a related development, a tweet by Greenspan showed that the CME bitcoin futures volume for April 25 was 51, 730 BTC. This is significantly higher than the 16,000 BTC moved by Kobayashi. Bitcoin has been enjoying a resurgence of late, posting its first back-to-back weekly gains for 2018.

Mati Greenspan tweet showing CME bitcoin futures volume for April 25

The recent price increase might explain why Kobayashi seems to be intent on selling another portion of the trust’s crypto holdings. Kobayashi earlier said that he will try to sell the cryptocurrency for the highest possible price. There are still 146,106 units of bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash (valued at $1.5 billion) left in the trust.

Do you think the impending sale of bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash by Tokyo bitcoin whale will significantly affect the market? Please let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Image courtesy of Twitter, Shutterstock