Over $170 billion wiped off cryptocurrencies as market tanks on Mt. Gox bitcoin payout fears

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Cryptocurrencies plunged Friday as investors focused on the payout of nearly $9 billion to users of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.

Bitcoin's price was last lower by nearly 3% to $56,571.00, according to Coin Metrics. Earlier in the day, the world's biggest cryptocurrency had slumped as low as $53,513.55, marking its first time trading below the $55,000 level since Feb. 27.

Rival token ether, meanwhile, sank around 5% to $2,971.68.

At one point in time, the entire cryptocurrency market had shed more than $170 billion in combined market capitalization in a 24-hour period, according to CoinGecko data.

On Friday, the trustee for the Mt. Gox bankruptcy estate, Nobuaki Kobayashi, said in a statement that it had begun making repayments in bitcoin and bitcoin cash to some of the creditors through a number of designated crypto exchanges.

Mt. Gox's trustee didn't specify how much money had been transferred to these exchanges.

He noted that the remaining funds would be returned to creditors once a series of conditions is met, including confirming the validity of registered accounts and completing discussions between the trustee and the designated crypto exchanges.

The trustee is still working to ensure repayments "can be made safely and securely," Kobayashi wrote, urging "eligible rehabilitation creditors to wait for a while."

It comes after a small amount of bitcoin was moved out of wallets associated with Mt. Gox, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, with the largest movement being a $24 transfer to the Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank.

Bitbank is among the recipients listed to support repayments.

Recently, the world's largest cryptocurrency has been pressured by news of