Bitcoin (BTC) briefly dipped to its weekly low on Wednesday, just before a major development in the crypto world — FTX’s long-awaited creditor repayment. The exchange, which went broke in late 2022, announced that it will start distributing over $5 billion in stablecoins to creditors on May 30.
The announcement has traders on edge. Bitcoin’s hourly chart showed a dip to around $106,474, but then it rebounded a bit to $107,780 at press time. It looks like the price action is showing the market’s anxiety as everyone tries to figure out the impact of the upcoming liquidity injection.
A $5 billion stablecoin payout might seem like good news for those waiting to recover funds, but the market is more focused on where that money might go next.
When we look at the big picture, economic indicators are not doing sentiment any help either. The latest U.S. GDP figure for Q1 was -0.2%, which is slightly better than the expected -0.3% but still in the red.
Meanwhile, initial jobless claims rose to 240,000, higher than both the forecast and the previous week’s 226,000 — suggesting the labor market may be softening a bit faster than anticipated.
The issue here is pretty simple: when creditors finally get their money, especially in liquid form like stablecoins, some might decide to leave the crypto market entirely. Macroeconomic data perfectly adds to the uncertainty.
It seems like the market is already anticipating some potential selling pressure, given Bitcoin’s recent behavior.
