Bitcoin, Ethereum Tread Water as Mt. Gox Distributions Continue

Crypto markets traded flat on Friday as Mt. Gox continues to transfer its Bitcoin holdings to exchanges to pay its creditors.

Ethereum (ETH) dipped 1% to $3,153, while Bitcoin (BTC) is trading flat at $65,000. Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT) dropped 3%.

On Tuesday, over $3.1 billion worth of Bitcoin was transferred from Mt. Gox to BitGo, the last of five crypto service providers through which creditors can reclaim their funds. Currently, Mt. Gox holds about $2.13 billion, or 32,990 Bitcoin, as per Arkham Intelligence.

On July 31, Mt. Gox updated its creditors on the payout process that had begun earlier in the month. The exchange confirmed the transfer of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to designated exchanges, with repayments occurring on July 5, 16, 24, and 31.

Data from CoinGlass indicates that over 88,871 traders were liquidated in the last 24 hours, with total liquidations reaching $254.51 million.

Michael van de Poppe, CEO of MN Trading, believes that Bitcoin must stay above the $60-61K range to move towards its all-time high.

“Historically, August & September are bad,” he tweeted. “However, I’m expecting that from mid-August the momentum starts to change. New ATH in September/October.”

According to Eliézer Ndinga, Head of Strategy and Business Development for Digital Assets at 21Shares, increasing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could be contributing to the selloff.

“We are seeing a temporary flight to safety on the back of geopolitical uncertainty,” Ndigna said in a market commentary. “U.S. Bitcoin ETF inflows remain strong despite the market selloff, with ~$170M net inflows in the past week and >$18B inflows since their launch in January.”

Earnings Reports

Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy increased its Bitcoin holdings in the second quarter of 2024. The company purchased 12,222 BTC for $805 million, bringing its total holdings to 226,500 BTC, valued at approximately $14.7 billion.

During its Q2 earnings call, MicroStrategy reported hefty losses of $5.74 per share on revenue of $111.4 million for the quarter, marking a 7% decline compared to the previous year.

Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange, slightly exceeded its second-quarter revenue expectations. The exchange reported $1.45 billion in total revenue, just above the $1.4 billion estimated by Wall Street analysts, according to FactSet.

Transaction fees, Coinbase’s biggest source of income, slipped 27% from the previous quarter as trading volumes fell by 28%. On a brighter note, the exchange’s subscription and services revenue grew by 17% from the previous quarter.

Block, formerly known as Square, posted a gross profit of $2.23 billion, up 20% from a year ago. The company reported a net income of $195.3 million.

Stock Market Drops After Jobs Report

U.S. stock futures dropped on Friday as traders evaluated a key July payroll report. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 1%, S&P 500 futures declined by 0.5%, and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped by 2%.

Friday’s key data point was the nonfarm payrolls report, which showed that the U.S. economy added just 114,000 jobs in July. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones expected growth of 185,000 jobs.