Bitcoin has experienced a significant decline of 8% over the past two days, with the overall downward trend since the start of July resulting in a 12% decrease in value. This negative price action has been attributed to selling by prominent bitcoin holders, including the bankrupt Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange and the governments of Germany and the US.
Mt. Gox, which filed for bankruptcy in 2014 following a series of hacks that resulted in the loss of nearly one million bitcoin, still holds approximately 140,000 bitcoin that have yet to be repaid to creditors and former customers. The exchange has recently initiated the process of repaying some of the $9 billion it owes, using bitcoin and bitcoin cash.
Additionally, wallets associated with the German and US governments have shown transfers indicating that both entities are selling off portions of their bitcoin holdings. The German government reportedly sold up to $175 million in seized bitcoin, while the US and German governments combined have sent $738 million to bitcoin exchanges in the past two weeks, hinting at further sales.
The selling pressure from these entities has caused bitcoin to fall below key technical support levels, including the 200-day moving average of around $59,500. Fairlead Strategies highlighted $60,000 as a critical support level that has been breached, leading to a new target support level of approximately $51,500 for bitcoin.
Overall, the current market conditions suggest a bearish outlook for bitcoin in the near future, as the selling pressure from Mt. Gox and government wallets has contributed to the recent decline in value and broken technical support levels.