Bull Market Ahead?
Bitcoin remains the king of crypto. With the price currently fluctuating around 63,000 USD, there is still some profit to be made. And as we know, that can also pull the entire crypto market up. Over the past six months, it has mainly been the big whales who have bought more Bitcoin. We are talking about wallets that contain more than 1000 bitcoins. I would be happy with 1 Bitcoin, let alone 1000 or more. Whatever, I don't have it, and many others do. Because where the whales have bought more Bitcoin over the past six months, it is precisely the small investors, like you and me, who have sold their Bitcoin. As a result, the market can unfortunately be manipulated more and more easily by the big whales. And even though we seem to be slowly getting ready for a real bull market, 178 days after the halving, there are also concerns.
Increasing Regulations
These concerns mainly come from large markets such as the US and Europe, where increasingly strict controls are being imposed on crypto companies and users. Fear of further government intervention is one of the factors that keeps the market uncertain.
Of course, Bitcoin remains technically a robust network. The hash rate, which is an indication of the strength and security of the network, remains at record highs. This clearly shows that miners have confidence in the future of Bitcoin. In the meantime, we are all eagerly awaiting the real bull market where the price can skyrocket. The bear market that follows all too quickly, we would rather not think about that yet.
In short, the current state of Bitcoin is one of anticipation and consolidation. It remains the flagship of the crypto market, but there are enough uncertainties that make it difficult to predict which direction it will go.
More Uncertainty
And speaking of uncertainty regarding Bitcoin, we come to the old familiar. Mt. Gox, the name alone brings a nostalgic shiver to anyone who has wandered around the crypto market for more than a minute. Once the superpower in Bitcoin transactions, nowadays better known for the long soap opera full of missed deadlines, the bureaucratic hassle, and especially waiting, a very long time waiting. Anyone who thought they could put an end to the wait this year was disappointed again. This week there was another nice piece of news, the repayment deadline has been moved to October 31, 2025. What a surprise! And how great! Why would you handle the repayments in 2024 if you can also delay for another year, right?
Let's go through the facts. The Mt. Gox asset trust manager indicated earlier this week that the repayments have been postponed yet again. This time because not all creditors have completed the correct procedures. Why would you also blame yourself when you can also blame everyone else who has had to wait years for their Bitcoin? And even if that is the real reason, I can still imagine it somewhere. Those creditors must have thought: "Oh, they will never pay again, why should I fill out all that paperwork?" And well, too bad. Now it has been postponed for everyone again. All creditors who have been waiting so long for their "golden day" have to wait even longer for that 'someday' that has now been postponed to 2025.
That Didn't Went To Well
Let's also not forget that some creditors have already received their funds. About 59,000 BTC has already been paid out, which is equal to about 41.5% of the total amount. But yes, as with many things at Mt. Gox, that didn't go entirely as planned. Several lucky users accidentally received a double deposit. And as we all know, double deposits are great, until the company asks if you can please transfer the money back. These refunds also contributed to the uncertainty for the Bitcoin market, because how would the creditors deal with their returned Bitcoin? Would it be dumped on the market immediately, or remain in the wallets of the recipients? For the time being, it seems to be mostly HODL'ers. And the market seems to be able to absorb it well. Let's hope that this will also be the case next year. Probably, that will mostly have to do with whether we are in a bull or bear market at the time of payment.
Well, let's first wait and see whether the remaining repayments will indeed happen in 2025. Maybe it will be 2026, or... who knows? It will still be Mt. Gox after all.
The only thing we know for sure is that the Mt. Gox repayment process is anything but a model of efficiency. You could perhaps compare it in terms of efficiency with the marketing efforts that are made here on Hive. But hey, that fits the crypto industry a bit, right? Chaos is a feature, not a bug. I say "Welcome to the World of Crypto, not one day is the same".