Blockchain
Mt. Gox Refunds Make BTC Problems Worse
Bearish sentiment became more pronounced in the cryptocurrency market early Monday after defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, which is expected to return over 140,000 BTC to victims of a 2014 hack, said it will begin refunds next month. Bitcoin slipped at $60,723, at one point recording a loss of more than 5% on a 24-hour basis. Ether and the broader market followed suit, with the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) falling more than 5%. Overall, bitcoin’s recent pullback from above $70,000 has taken the form of a double top bearish reversal pattern. However, spot and futures volumes in the bitcoin and ether markets on centralized exchanges have been significantly weaker since record highs in March, according to FalconX. This is a sign of lower investor participation or conviction in the selling action, often a feature of a “bear trap.”
Ether traders are selling like hotcakes bullish options on Deribit in a declining market. According to Amberdata, have been buying the September $4,000 Ether call option in large numbers in anticipation of a move to new record highs. “Looking at this week’s block flows, we see a lot of buying activity for the September $4,000 calls,” said Greg Magadini, director of derivatives at Amberdata, adding that it’s a sign that traders are betting that “if ETH goes above $4,000” we will likely test and break new all-time highs.”
According to the report, Japanese institutional investors are warming up to digital assets The Nomura survey of 547 Japanese investment managers. The April survey showed that more than 50% of managers plan to invest in cryptocurrencies in the next three years, seeing them as a diversification opportunity. Managers could allocate between 2% and 5% of assets under management to cryptocurrencies, the survey revealed, adding that nearly 80% would invest in a year. The shift towards cryptocurrencies follows growing concerns over Japan’s debt load and yen exchange rate volatility. Recently Metaplanet, listed in Tokyo adopted BTC as a reserve asset to protect against Japan’s fiscal problems. Monday on the company said would purchase another $6.2 million worth of BTC using the proceeds from the debt sale.