Major Bitcoin sentiment indicators rapidly flipped into ‘greed’ territory amid a steep uptick in the crypto space and the strengthening Bitcoin ETF inflows.
Bitcoin sentiment has flipped from ‘extreme fear’ to ‘greed’ and ‘FOMO’ within a few days, with Bitcoin gaining at least 12% in the past week.
In a July 16 post to X, crypto analytics platform Santiment suggested that caution is needed amid the abrupt bullish Reversal, stating that investors needed to be wise to tread carefully whenever “the crowd has collectively become so bullish without many signs of fear.”
Santiment stated that most of the market’s newfound optimism arose from investors looking optimistically at the possibility of Donald Trump and his crypto-friendly running mate JD Vance getting an election victory in November.
In the meantime, in the three days between July 13 and July 16, the Bitcoin sentiment tracker Crypto Fear & Greed Index whipsawed from ‘extreme fear’ to ‘greed’ amid a crypto market rally. Bitcoin gained 12.8% in the past week and is now valued at $64,508, according to TradingView data.
Bitcoin ETF Inflows Reached $300 Million On July 15
Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) also displayed signs of strength, with eleven spot Bitcoin funds netting $300.9 million in net inflows on July 15.
BlackRock and Ark 21 Shares funds topped the charts, with identical $117.2 million in inflows on the day, based on FarSide Investors data.
Bitcoin’s price bounced off its July 5 low of $53,500, which came in an onslaught of German-government-linked BTC sales and souring sentiment arising from fears of the nearly $8.5 billion in BTC getting paid back to creditors of the collapsed crypto exchange Mt. Gox.
After Bitcoin surged above the $62,000 level, many analysts said that an easing macro-environment could mean the worst might be behind us.
Mt. Gox Moves $9B In BTC, Market Prepares For Impact
Mt. Gox’s cold wallet transfers over 140,000 BTC in a massive move after two weeks of inactivity, causing market concerns.
Within three hours on July 16, Mt. Gox moved over 140,000 Bitcoin worth around $9 billion, to a known cold wallet and two unknown addresses.
Based on Arkham Intelligence data, Mt. Gox still holds 138,985 Bitcoin in its primary wallet, worth about $8.7 billion, and has started mobilizing funds held for the first time in two weeks.
Two transactions saw nearly 96,000 BTC, worth around $6 billion, moved to two mysterious wallets while the initial 44,527 BTC was sent to a known Mt. Gox cold wallet.
Over $6 Billion Moved In Two Hours
The cumulative volume of Mt. Gox’s BTC transactions on July 16 amounted to about 190,000 BTC, accounting for more than $12 billion in value moved within three hours.
This unknown address, ending with “BHDct9b,” received 42,587 BTC valued at $2.69 billion, while the remaining 4641.24 BTC worth $293.94 million was sent to “Mt. Gox: Cold Wallet (1Jbez).”
The “BHDct9b” address is yet to transfer the 42,587 BTC, but the resulting fear in the market has made its value plunge as market sentiment toward Bitcoin shifts.
Moments after, another 48,641 BTC was sent to another unknown address, moving an additional $3.07 billion in holdings out of the primary Mt. Gox wallet.
Market Response
The Bitcoin price hit a high of $65,000 earlier on July 16 but dropped to lows of $63,000 within a few hours. This price drop is equivalent to around 3% for BTC, but the ripple effect resulted in more than 5% price drops for altcoins like Polkadot (DOT), Uniswap (UNI), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
Market sentiment turned bearish as BTC price started to drop an hour before the first Mt. Gox transaction on July 16, only to continue dropping as more outflows hit unknown wallets.
Repayment Repercussions
Mt. Gox stated on July 5 that it would start repaying its BTC and BCH debts to creditors, explaining that the repayments would be made to rehabilitation creditors through designated cryptocurrency exchanges.
This announcement cited the Rehabilitation Debtor as Mt. Gox Co. Ltd. and the Rehabilitation Trustee as Nobuaki Kobayashi, attorney-at-law.
The repayments statement showed that the remaining rehabilitation creditors would get funds ‘promptly’ following the completion of all the prerequisite conditions. Since the primary Mt. Gox wallet executed over $9 billion in BTC outflows on July 16, the promise of quick repayments might come to fruition before August.