The price of Bitcoin fell below $59,000 for the first time since April early on Thursday, with several other major cryptocurrencies slumping as well, amid concerns about the impact of the defunct Mt. Gox exchange returning a large amount of Bitcoins to its creditors.
After consistently hovering above the $60,000 mark, the price of the world’s most valuable cryptocurrency fell below $59,000 early on Thursday—down more than 3.8% in the past 24 hours.
The price of Ether was down more than 4% and dropped below $3,200, while other popular tokens such as Binance’s BNB, Solana and Dogecoin were down 5.8%, 9% and 6.5% respectively. The slump comes amid concerns about the administrators of the defunct Mt. Gox exchange starting the process of paying out its creditors in crypto tokens—including more than 137,000 Bitcoins worth around $8 billion.
The large payout, which will happen in stages, has triggered concerns that the creditors may attempt to liquidate some of their returned crypto assets and drive down their prices. Mt. Gox’s creditors will be repaid in Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Analysts cited by Bloomberg note that the state of the U.S. presidential election may also be having an impact on crypto prices. Biden’s shaky performance in the first debate has led to calls for him to exit the race. Bloomberg reports the cryptocurrency market is concerned about the possibility of a stronger Democratic candidate replacing Biden to take on the former President Donald Trump, who has in recent months presented himself as a pro-crypto leader.
