Bitcoin price today: jumps to $66k as Mt Gox postpones repayment deadline

Bitcoin’s price jumped on Monday, extending a weekend rebound as defunct crypto exchange Mt Gox postponed plans to return assets to creditors by a year, assuaging fears of a near-term sell event. 

But the token, along with broader crypto prices, still remained largely rangebound, amid few broader positive signals for crypto markets. Prices were rattled last week by fears of more regulatory action in the U.S..

Bitcoin rose 5.7% to $65,960.0 by 10:40 ET (14:40 GMT). Trading volumes were muted on Monday on account of a holiday in Japan.  Mt Gox postpones repayment deadline

The trustees of Mt Gox said last week that they will distribute the remaining assets due to creditors- which were stolen during a 2014 hack- by October 31, 2025. 

The defunct exchange had begun returning nearly $9 billion worth of stolen tokens- most of them Bitcoin- to creditors in July. But recent data showed the trustees still held $2.8 billion worth of tokens. 

Fears of the distribution had triggered deep losses in Bitcoin earlier this year, given that it entailed a massive increase in supplies.  Bitcoin remains rangebound 

But despite some gains in recent  sessions, Bitcoin remained squarely within a trading range seen through most of the year- between $50,000 to $65,000. 

The token struggled to break above $65,000 amid a dearth of positive cues. 

Prices were also dented by fears of more regulatory action, after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week sued crypto market maker Cumberland for acting as an unregistered dealer with crypto assets. 

Conversely, crypto exchange Bitnomial sued the SEC for allegedly overstepping its authority in regulating a XRP futures contract. 

The SEC has several running cases against major crypto exchanges, including COIN and Kraken, over the nature of cryptocurrencies- specifically whether they are regarded as securities. 

Crypto assets have largely lagged gains in stock markets in recent sessions, while the prospect of a slower decline in U.S. interest rates also weighed on sentiment.  Crypto price today: Altcoins track Bitcoin gains

Among broader crypto prices, most altcoins tracked gains in Bitcoin.

World no.2 crypto Ether surged over 7% to $2,625.27. SOL and XRP rose 6.1% and 2.5%, respectively, while ADA and MATIC added 2.7% each. 

Among meme tokens, DOGE jumped more than 4%.  $500mn of altcoins to be unlocked, may pressure prices

Nearly $500 million worth of various tokens will be unlocked this week, which could put downward pressure on their prices as they become available to investors, teams, and ecosystem advisors. According to TokenUnlocks data, over $80 million of Worldcoin's WLD/USD , $51 million of Arbitrum's ARB/USD , and nearly $40 million each of Eigenlayer's EIGEN/USD and Axie Infinity's AXS/USD will be released in the coming seven days.

Out of the total $500 million in token unlocks, around $200 million will be released as a "cliff," meaning a significant portion will become available all at once. Additionally, Solana 's SOL will see $80 million worth of tokens unlocked under a "linear" plan, where tokens are gradually introduced to the market.

Although token unlocks increase the overall supply, they don't always immediately enter the market. However, the anticipation of holders potentially selling their newly unlocked tokens can trigger preemptive sell-offs, driving down prices ahead of the unlocks.

Ambar Warrick contributed to this report. 

Source: Investing.com