Investing.com– Bitcoin price saw little movement on Thursday, slowing down after a major rebound as persistent fears of token distributions by defunct crypto exchange Mt Gox remained in play.
Bitcoin had rebounded from near four-month lows in the past few sessions, as the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency saw traders pricing in the potential for a much friendlier regulatory environment.
Bitcoin was trading up 0.3% in the past 24 hours at $64,769.3 by 08:35 ET (12:35 GMT).
Mt Gox jitters persist after $2.8 bln mobilization
Concerns over token distributions by Mt Gox remained in play, especially as wallets associated with the exchange were seen mobilizing $2.8 billion worth of tokens earlier this week.
The exchange had recently signaled that it will begin returning tokens stolen in a 2014 hack back to creditors in July. It remained unclear just how much Bitcoin the overall distribution will entail.
This sparked concerns that a sharp increase in the supply of Bitcoin will increase selling pressure on the token and drive down its prices, given that receivers of the tokens will be more inclined to sell them after a stellar run-up over the past decade.
Fears of Mt Gox had driven sharp declines in Bitcoin through early July, putting the token at near four-month lows and close to levels which could cause some capitulation for miners.
But the token rebounded sharply this week amid increased speculation over a second Trump presidency, given that the former president has expressed support for crypto in his recent campaigning efforts.
Trump is also set to speak at the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville later in July. The former president was seen getting a massive boost in popularity after a failed assassination attempt last week.
Additionally, crypto benefited from recent weakness in the dollar, amid growing expectations that the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates from September.
Crypto price today: Altcoins also steady rebound rally cools
Among broader crypto prices, major altcoins also remained in a tight trading range as a rebound rally cooled.
World no.2 token was also flat at $3,461.78, although it still remained relatively buoyant on the prospect of spot exchange-traded funds being approved for U.S. markets.
slid 5.3%, reversing course after rumors over a settlement between and the Securities and Exchange Commission sparked strong gains on Wednesday.
and moved in a flat-to-low range, while among meme tokens, SHIB plunged 10% while DOGE shed 2%.
Crypto exchange WazirX suffers $230 million exploit
In other related developments, crypto exchange WazirX has experienced a wallet exploit, leading to the unauthorized transfer of more than $230 million worth of crypto assets.
The exploit targeted the exchange’s multisig wallet on the network, potentially due to a private key compromise, draining the funds. To execute the attack, the perpetrator upgraded the Safe Wallet’s implementation to a malicious contract, according to security firm Blocksec.
The stolen funds were transferred to an address that has started converting assets like , GALA, and into ether. On-chain data reveals the hacker stole over $100 million in , along with 15,290 ETH and 20 million MATIC tokens.
WazirX has acknowledged the breach and is investigating the outflows while pausing all withdrawals.
“We’re aware that one of our multisig wallets has experienced a security breach. Our team is actively investigating the incident. To ensure the safety of your assets, INR and crypto withdrawals will be temporarily paused,” WazirX stated.
“Looks like there is a private key leakage in WazirX exchange. The leaked private keys are used to upgrade a safe multi-sig wallet, which holds a large number of assets, to a malicious contract. Then the malicious contract is used to drain most of the assets in the Safe Wallet,” Blocksec reportedly told The Block.
Analysis:
In summary, Bitcoin’s price stagnation follows a rebound as concerns over Mt Gox’s token distributions persist. The potential impact of increased supply on Bitcoin’s price is a key concern for investors. Additionally, altcoins are experiencing a cooling rally, with some facing declines. The recent exploit at WazirX serves as a reminder of the risks associated with cryptocurrency exchanges and the importance of security measures in the digital asset space.