BNB, XRP Lead Slide in Crypto Majors as Mt. Gox's Repayment Delay Fails to Bouy Bitcoin Prices

BNB, XRP and other alternative cryptocurrencies nursed losses as market leader bitcoin (BTC) showed low signs of euphoria after a key Mt.Gox action was delayed another year, suggesting investors had likely priced in rumors of the delay.

The defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox pushed the deadline for its repayments to Oct. 31, 2024. The exchange was hacked in 2014, which led to 850,000 bitcoin (BTC), worth nearly $23 billion based on current prices, being stolen.

Some investors expected these sales to influence the crypto market, given early investors were likely sitting on several multiples of their initially invested capital and had incentive to lock in gains.

In a broadcast message early Thursday, trading firm QCP Capital attributed bitcoin's recovery above $27,000 to rumors that the start of the distribution of funds to Mt. Gox customers has been delayed until 2024.

Bitcoin, however, failed to hold above those levels and slid to $26,900 as of European afternoon hours.

Major alternative currencies sold off Thursday as traders likely locked in gains from earlier this week. In the past 24 hours, BNB Chain’s BNB and XRP slid as much as 2%, ether (ETH) shed 1%, while dogecoin (DOGE) was little changed.

Toncoin (TON) dropped 8% after rising 35% in the past week, following messaging giant Telegram’s endorsement of the tokens. Elsewhere, ImmutableX’s IMX tokens rose 30%, dominated by South Korean trading volumes.

Layer-2 network Optimism’s OP tokens fell 5% as the Optimism Foundation said it had sold 116 million OP tokens, worth $157 million at current prices, to seven separate buyers. These buyers are expected to use their tokens to vote on Optimism’s governance forums.

Meanwhile, some traders said that data suggested investors were accumulating bitcoin in expectations of a bull market, even as the short-term bearish outlook remained intact.

“Long-term BTC holders are accumulating the coins they sold to short-term investors in the spring, which promises positive prospects for the future, said FxPro analyst Alex Kuptsikevich in a note to CoinDesk. “This is the kind of behavior hoarders exhibit at the beginning of bull markets.”

On-chain analysis firm CryptoQuant said in a note that current price action mirrored past cycles and displayed an accumulation period.

"Bitcoin's recent price performance closely resembles past cycles, suggesting that the biggest cryptocurrency is likely to remain in a consolidation phase until the 2024 halving event, but hinting at a significant price increase after the 2024 halving," analysts said.