Metaplanet denies selling bitcoin worth $320 million

JUST IN: Metaplanet denies reports it sold $320 million in bitcoin, with CEO Simon Gerovich saying a 5,014 BTC transfer was a 'routine custody operation' and holdings remain at 43,000 BTC.

Five thousand bitcoin moved out of Metaplanet's wallets, and the internet panicked.

Blockchain trackers flagged the transfer on Wednesday, 5,014 BTC, about 320 million dollars at current prices, leaving addresses linked to the Tokyo-listed company. Within hours the rumour mill had Metaplanet dumping its stack.

CEO Simon Gerovich shut it down fast. He says it was a routine custody operation, coins shuffled between the firm's own addresses, no bitcoin sold, holdings still sitting at 43,000 BTC. In other words, they moved money from one pocket to the other and everyone screamed fire.

Why the jumpiness though? Because these bitcoin treasury companies are under a microscope right now. Strategy, the biggest of them all, has actually been selling coins to fund dividends and buy back preferred shares. So every big on-chain move gets read as the start of the exit. With bitcoin sitting near sixty three and a half thousand, the whole market is watching these wallets like hawks.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.

Source Read the original reporting at coindesk.com