Bitcoin's price may be hampered by uncertainty surrounding the potential Mt. Gox bitcoin supply hitting the market by October, QCP Capital's analysts said. However, according to the team's report on Thursday, this uncertainty could potentially benefit ether upon the launch of the spot ETH ETF.

"With the market consolidating in the range and eagerly awaiting the ether spot ETF launch, accumulators continue to be attractive, allowing traders to consistently accumulate ether at a discount," QCP Capital analysts added.

Mt Gox-related bitcoin supply anxiety

Bitfinex analysts agreed with the QCP Capital report, stating that supply anxiety over the upcoming Mt. Gox creditor payouts remains a concern for bitcoin.

"If creditors decide to liquidate their holdings quickly, the market could see an increase in bitcoin supply. This scenario would likely lead to a sharp decline in bitcoin prices due to the sudden influx of sell orders. Such an event could trigger a cascade of further selling as panic spreads among other holders," Bitfinex analysts told The Block.

Trader attention turns to memecoins

Meanwhile, dogecoin, shiba inu and pepe have drawn traders' attention as crypto majors trade mostly within a tight range ahead of the anticipated launch of spot ether exchange-traded funds, analysts have observed.

"Traders are shifting focus to higher beta meme tokens like shiba inu, dogecoin, and pepe, which have seen double-digit gains of between 10-20%, and are polling in the top ten for open interest," Thursday's QCP Capital report said.

One group of memecoins, PolitiFi tokens, has posted the most notable gains over the past week. The top three memecoins by market capitalization in CoinGecko's PolitiFi category account for approximately 82% of the category's total market capitalization of $1.58 billion. The top three by market cap are MAGA ( TRUMP -21.88% ), up 36% in the past week, ConstitutionDAO ( PEOPLE +0.37% ), up 12% in the past seven days and MAGA -33.051% hat (MAGA), increasing by 603% in the same period, according to CoinGecko.

PolitiFi is a memecoin category featuring tokens named after political figures, although these tokens almost always have no official affiliation with them.

Crypto majors trading mostly flat

In contrast to the PolitiFi memecoin rally, the entire cryptocurrency market cap increased by 0.9% in the past 24 hours to $2.69 trillion. The price of leading cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and ether, increased by around 2.1% and 0.9%, respectively, according to The Block's Price Pages.

Bitcoin has been defending its position above the $67,000 level for the fourth time in the past two weeks and has continued to trade within a tight range, as has ether. 

The GM 30 Index, representing a selection of the top 30 cryptocurrencies, increased by 0.24% to 144.65 in the past day.