Cryptocurrency-related stocks fell in premarket trading on Friday as their downtrend continued for a fourth straight session.
The leading cryptocurrency fell 6.5% to $54,450.0 by 04:01 ET, hitting its lowest level since February. It initially fell below $54,000 before briefly recovering.
Cryptocurrency stocks were also affected by the decline, sending them sharply lower in premarket trading. MicroStrategy Incorporated (NASDAQ:), the largest publicly traded company holding bitcoin, saw its shares drop more than 9%.
Similarly, shares of Bitcoin mining companies Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:) and Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:) fell 7.4% and 8.8%, respectively.
Furthermore it, Clean Spark (NASDAQ:) shares fell more than 8%, Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:) shares fell 9%, and Coinbase (NASDAQ:) shares lost 6.6%.
The notable drop in bitcoin comes after Mt. Gox, the defunct cryptocurrency exchange that was once the world’s largest, moved a large amount of bitcoin to a new wallet, likely in preparation for paying off creditors.
At 00:27 UTC, Mt. Gox moved 47,228 bitcoins, worth $2.6 billion, from cold storage to a new wallet, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence. The exchange is preparing to distribute assets stolen from customers during a 2014 hack.
The move resulted in the liquidation of more than $580 million tied to long positions, one of the largest such events this year. Together, bullish bets on Bitcoin and Ethereum incurred losses of more than $380 million.
Cryptocurrency prices also fell significantly, falling by about 10%. Bitcoin fell by about 16%, while altcoins fell by 11.5%.
