Seven-year-old Bitcoin has been reawakened as a crypto wallet linked to the infamous Mt. Gox hack started moving currency.
A Bitcoin wallet attributed to the BTC-e exchange came to life on Nov. 23. The wallet, linked to the 2014 Mt. Gox hack, carried out its largest transaction since August 2017.
Around 10,000 BTC, worth an estimated $167 million, was moved to two unidentified recipients. The transactions were split, and 3,500 BTC were moved to several wallets. The remaining 6,500 BTC were moved to a single address.
CryptoQuant founder Ki Young Ju observed the Bitcoin transfers:
Old Bitcoin Moving
He added that 65 BTC was sent to HitBTC a few hours ago, so it was not a government auction or similar. Following that, he recommended that the exchange suspend the account for suspicious activity.
Ki Young Ju opined that old Bitcoin moving was bearish because it was minted in a lawless era. Additionally, the holders cannot use KYC, and it has been mixed through several transactions.
When asked why the criminals didn’t cash out when Bitcoin prices were higher, he said:
“They got these Bitcoins when the price was $297 in Jan 2015, and the BTC price is $16,617 now, so approx. PnL is 5,594%.”
Mt. Gox was the first Bitcoin exchange launched in 2011. In February 2014, it was hacked for more than 740,000 BTC and subsequently collapsed.
Crystal Blockchain identified the BTC-e wallet and Russian crypto entrepreneur Sergey Mendeleev noticed the transfer.
There has been a lot of FUD recently about old Bitcoins, and even Nakamoto’s stash, being sold to markets. However, these stories emerge during the depths of every bear market.
Comparing Mt. Gox to FTX
On Nov. 24, Chainalysis made a comparison between the two failed exchanges. It said that the Mt. Gox market share was much larger than that of FTX. Therefore, the impact of the fallout was much greater at the time.
The difference now is that the FTX collapse has shaken confidence, but ultimately crypto will survive.
The analytics firm said there is “no reason it can’t bounce back from this, stronger than ever,” since the crypto industry has survived worse than the fall of FTX.
Crypto markets have gained 6.3% since their bear cycle bottom earlier this week, but we may not be out of the woods yet.
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