Crypto investors are hopeful that Mt Gox's bitcoin sell-off will be halted until September

Mark Karpeles (C), chief executive of defunct bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, attends a news conference after a trial on charges of embezzlement in Tokyo, Japan July 11, 2017.

REUTERS/Toru Hanai

• Last week the trustees of bust bitcoin exchange Mt Gox said they had sold $400 million of bitcoin since the end of last year.

• Bitcoin investors blamed the large sell orders for a slump in bitcoin's price at the start of the year.

• Many investors believe Mt Gox's trustees can't sell any more bitcoin until the next creditors meeting in September.

• The expected pause in selling is helping bitcoin rally from recent lows.

---

LONDON — The price of bitcoin is rising against the dollar on Tuesday morning amid chatter among investors that a major seller is unlikely to continue to offload more bitcoin in the near future.

Bitcoin slumped last week after it emerged that the trustees of bankrupt Japanese exchange Mt Gox had sold bitcoin holdings worth $400 million since the end of last year.

The sales coincided with a slump in bitcoin's price at the start of the year and the cryptocurrency dipped last week as investors realised Mt Gox has a stash of bitcoin worth $1.7 billion that could be dumped onto the market at a later date.

However, multiple reports in the bitcoin specialist press reported that Mt Gox's trustees won't sell anymore bitcoin until at least September this year. The next Mt Gox creditors meeting is not until September 18. NewsBTC said: "Many are hopeful that with the next Mt. Got court date six months away, Kobayashi won’t be able to dump another load of coins on the market."

A Japanese Twitter user has cast some doubt on this assertion, Tweeting:

Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/972632301438844928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Hi, I'm Japanese. Nobuaki has already authorization to sell BTC. Sep 18 is only schedules of Creditors meeting. It's has not any authorization of selling BTC. Nobuaki says he will sell BTC with court permission.

Still, hopes that the large sell orders will at least be paused for a while are helping bitcoin to recover from its recent lows. Bitcoin is up 0.45% against the dollar to $9,168.42 at the time of writing (8.15 a.m. GMT/4.15 a.m. ET), up from a low of around $8,500 hit last Friday.

NOW WATCH: Goldman Sachs investment chief: Bitcoin is definitely a bubble, Ethereum even more so

See Also:

• Bitcoin is slumping and analysts say there are 3 big reasons for the 'fear and panic'

• 'This is horse s---': Bitcoin traders are angry that Mt Gox's crypto stash is being 'dumped' on the market

• Coinbase just made a big move to tap Wall Street's appetite for cryptocurrency

SEE ALSO: 'This is horse s---': Bitcoin traders are angry that Mt Gox's crypto stash is being 'dumped' on the market

DON'T MISS: Crypto exchanges are charging up to $1 million per ICO to list tokens: 'It's pure capitalism'