Why the Mt. Gox Repayments May Not Hurt the Bitcoin Price Much
Galaxy’s Alex Thorn explains why the Bitcoin repayments will likely have a smaller impact on the Bitcoin price than feared. Plus, he gives a projection for inflows into spot Ethereum ETFs, and says a Solana ETF has a hard path to approval.
ABOUT
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Ten and a half years after filing for bankruptcy, Mt. Gox is finally set to disburse 142,000 Bitcoin worth nearly $9 billion to creditors between July and October.
Market concern has been growing over the potential impact on Bitcoin prices, but Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, explains why only a small fraction of those bitcoins will be sold. He also discusses the implications of this redistribution on the market, the potential success of Ethereum ETFs, and the chances of a Solana ETF approval.
Show highlights:
- 0:26 Why Alex estimates the amount of bitcoins that creditors sell will be a tiny fraction of the 142,000 to be repai
- 11:35 What market shocks could arise from Mt. Gox creditors receiving billions in Bitcoin, and why he believes Bitcoin Cash is the real wild card
- 16:18 Whether Ethereum ETFs could be as successful as Bitcoin ETFs in attracting investors
- 21:35 Whether potential outflows from Grayscale's Ethereum Trust will dampen the excitement around Ethereum ETFs
- 23:38 How the combination of Mt. Gox repayments, Ethereum ETFs, and German and American government Bitcoin sales might affect crypto prices
- 26:03 The chances the SEC approves a spot Solana ETF
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Guest
Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy
Previous appearance on Unchained: How Much Money Will Flow Into Bitcoin ETFs? Here’s One Projection
Links
Mt. Gox.
Unchained: Crypto Market Sees $300 Million Liquidated as Bitcoin Briefly Drops Below $59,000
CoinDesk: Mt. Gox to Begin Repayments in July
Governments selling:
Unchained: US Government Sends $241 Million in Bitcoin to Coinbase: Arkham
Cointelegraph: German gov’t offloads 900 Bitcoin, 400 BTC sent to Coinbase and Kraken
Solana ETF
Reuters: Investment manager VanEck files to list first spot Solana ETF in US |
Unchained Podcast is Produced by Laura Shin Media, LLC. Distributed by CoinDesk. Senior Producer is Michele Musso and Executive Producer is Jared Schwartz.
HOST
Laura Shin is a crypto journalist, host of the Unchained podcast, and author of “The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze” (Public Affairs, 2022). Formerly a senior editor at Forbes, she was the first mainstream journalist to cover crypto full-time, and her podcasts and videos have had more than 15 million downloads and views. Shin has spoken about cryptocurrency at places such as TEDx San Francisco, the International Monetary Fund, Singularity University and the Oslo Freedom Forum.
She graduated Phi Beta Kappa with Honors from Stanford University and has a master of arts from Columbia University’s School of Journalism. She lives in New York City.

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