Nearly ten years after its downfall, Mt. Gox has started repaying customers, affecting Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash markets.

Mt. Gox Repayments Mark Major Market Event

According to CoinDesk, Mt. Gox announced on Friday that it has begun making repayments to customers, putting an end to an almost ten-year wait for some users to receive their digital currencies back.

The defunct cryptocurrency exchange was once the most successful cryptocurrency exchange in the world. In its early years, it carried out more than 70 percent of all Bitcoin (BTC) transactions.

Following a hack that occurred at the beginning of 2014 and resulted in the loss of around 740,000 Bitcoin, the exchange went out of business.

Following the announcement made by Mt. Gox the previous month that it intended to begin repayments in July, the news of the repayments brought selling pressure to the cryptocurrency market as a whole and to Bitcoin in particular.

As the day progressed, the price of Bitcoin dropped to $54,000, which was its lowest level in the past five months. As a result of the freefall, more than 580 million dollars' worth of optimistic bets were liquidated.

Bitcoin Price Hits Five-Month Low Amid Repayments

The data provided by CoinMarketCap (via EconoTimes) indicates that Bitcoin has now struck a plateau and is currently trading at $54,500.35 at the time that this article was published.

eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert reported that a major chunk of the sell-off may be connected back to concerns that sprang from the obligations that Mt. Gox owes to its creditors. Gilbert made this statement in reference to the sell-off. As a consequence of these repayments, around eight billion dollars' worth of Bitcoin will be made available for purchase on the market beginning this month.

Expert Warns of Further Bitcoin Volatility

Gilbert indicated that he believes the price movement for Bitcoin to become even more erratic in the days ahead, following the quick decrease that Bitcoin experienced. The level at which Bitcoin was trading was $53,600.

"The news flow is far more bearish than bullish right now, and the selling activity we’re seeing is quite clearly unsettling investors, which often drives more selling," Gilbert explained.