Bitcoin, currently ranked #1 by market cap, is down 1.09% over the past 24 hours. BTC has a market cap of $113.64B with a 24 hour volume of $3.75B.

Bitcoin Price Chart

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Market Cap Drops by $12 Billion in Minutes

Bitcoin, which recently exhibited strong bullish indicators, abruptly lost over $400 in value, dropping below the $7,000 level. Over 50 percent BTC volume traded within the last 24 hours has been on BitMEX and BitForex. Notably, BitMEX trade activity is linked to the recent mysterious distribution of $1 billion in Bitcoin from a wallet associated with defunct black market platform Silk Road, signaling a potential market dump orchestrated by the party that controls the wallets

Cryptocurrency traders and investors have been quick to blame recent CNBC coverage that announced the termination of Goldman Sachs’ plans to launch a crypto trading desk. While the Wall Street giant may be placing crypto trading desk plans on hold, the evidence is by no means conclusive. CNBC’s coverage also cites a recent Business Insider story on the matter, which, in turn, references no sources other than “people familiar with the matter.”

The cryptocurrency market is highly reactive to negative press, colloquially referred to as “FUD,” but a significant drop in value, such as the dump currently underway, has historically been associated with the actions of whales within liquidating large amounts of Bitcoin. Rumors of a potential 16,000 BTC dump associated with the Mt. Gox scandal earlier this year catalyzed a $1,500 drop in Bitcoin prices, shaving billions off the total cryptocurrency market cap.

The recent movement of over 111,000 BTC from wallets associated with the Silk Road platform indicates that the current sell-off may be caused by a large amount of washed Bitcoin hitting exchanges.

Community-driven investigative efforts have also revealed that at least 3,000 BTC from the Silk Road hoard have been transferred directly to Binance. Bitcoin movement from Silk Road-related wallets coincides with a recent price increase in Monero, which surged 10 percent directly after Silk Road funds hit Binance.

The manner in which Silk Road-related BTC is currently being placed within the market implies that the party responsible is actively in the process of mixing, hiding and selling the Silk Road holdings.