Crypto Markets Decline Amid Mt. Gox Jitters

Crypto markets dropped on Tuesday due to fears of a potential sell-off emanating from Mt. Gox.

On May 28, wallets linked to the defunct exchange moved nearly $9 billion worth of Bitcoin to unknown wallets.

Once the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox collapsed in 2014 after a massive hack resulted in the loss of thousands of BTC. The exchange filed for bankruptcy, leaving creditors waiting a decade for repayment. This event marked one of the most infamous failures in crypto history.

Markets sold off as investors anticipated the possible liquidation of these holdings.

Bitcoin is down 3%, with Ether and Solana dropping more than 2%, according to CoinGecko.

“The movement of Mt. Gox's Bitcoin holdings has reminded the market of this infamous event,” Ryan Hong, an analyst at CoinWestern Ventures, told The Defiant. “The potential for a sudden influx of Bitcoin into the market has prompted traders to reevaluate their positions, contributing to the current market downturn​.”

Michael Van de Poppe, CEO of MN Trading, believes the market is “quite boring” today. “No breakout happening for Bitcoin as $70K was rejected,” he said. “I'd like $66K to be holding up as support, and then everything is fine.”

Data from CoinGlass shows the rising popularity of memecoins among leveraged traders. Notably, four out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by open interest (OI) are now memecoins. Leading the pack is Pepe (PEPE), with $820.5 million in OI. Other memecoins in the top 10 include Dogecoin (DOGE), Dogwifhat (WIF), and Bonk (BONK).

U.S. stock markets are trading flat after the long weekend. The S&P 500 and the Dow fell by 0.2% while the Nasdaq rallied 0.1%.