Bitcoin price today: hovers around $60k amid Mt Gox fears; Ether ETF hype dim

Investing.com-- Bitcoin price fell on Thursday, seeing little relief after a major rout over the past week as fears of a massive sale event stemming from defunct exchange Mt. Gox kept traders averse towards the token. 

Markets took little support from a Reuters report that the Securities and Exchange Commission could approve exchange-traded funds tied to the spot price of Ether by as soon as next week. 

Broader sentiment towards crypto was also quashed by fears of an upcoming U.S. inflation reading that is likely to factor into the outlook for interest rates. This notion also kept traders heavily biased towards the dollar.

Bitcoin fell 1.1% in the past 24 hours to $60,918.7 by 01:28 ET (05:28 GMT). 

Bitcoin price hit by Mt Gox jitters, strong dollar 

Liquidators for the defunct crypto exchange Mt Gox said that they planned to begin crypto assets stolen during a 2014 hack by as soon as early-July. The distributions will chiefly consist of large quantities of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

But given that the Bitcoin being returned to clients will be of a substantially higher value than when it was stolen, traders expect that the receivers of the assets will be more likely to liquidate their holdings, presenting massive selling pressure on Bitcoin.

Mt Gox liquidators were seen mobilizing about $9 billion worth of Bitcoin earlier this year. But their holdings of the token are much more.

Beyond the Mt Gox sales, anticipation of PCE price index data- which is the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge- also kept investors on their toes. 

Strength in the dollar- amid persistent fears of high for longer U.S. interest rates- were a key weight on crypto prices in recent sessions.

Crypto price today: Ether little enthused by ETF report 

Among broader cryptocurrency prices, altcoins also drifted lower as traders remained biased towards the dollar.

World no.2 token Ether fell 0.4% to $3,374.23, taking little support from a Reuters report that said the SEC could approve a spot Ether ETF by as soon as next week.

Optimism over a spot Ether ETF saw the token rally sharply through May. But it was seen giving up a bulk of those gains over the past two weeks, as traders questioned just how much of a price boost a spot ETF could provide.

The approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF earlier this year saw the token briefly rally to record highs. But Bitcoin has since remained within a tight trading range and struggled to offer any meaningful near-term returns.

Hype over the spot Bitcoin ETFs was also seen dwindling in recent weeks, as crypto investment products clocked two weeks of steep outflows.

Other altcoins also drifted lower on Thursday. ADA, SOL and XRP fell between 0.5% and 2.7%.

Among meme tokens, DOGE fell 3.4%, while SHIB lost 3.2%.