Mt. Gox will begin repaying users affected by its infamous failure to store assets safely starting the first week of July. The defunct exchange underwent one of the most talked-about hacks of all time in 2014, leading to it shutting its doors permanently. Multiple attacks aimed at Mt. Gox for over two years resulted in the loss of 809,000 bitcoins. The attacks went unnoticed until the end.
Users will finally receive their share starting early next month. Mt. Gox’s trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, mentioned that “the repayments will be made from the beginning of July 2024.” Kobayashi also stated they will occur in BTC and BCH (Bitcoin Cash).
Users have waited almost a decade to receive their stolen assets. Mt. Gox estate, handling its bankruptcy, revealed in 2023 that those who filed for claims would receive their funds by October 2024. At its peak, the exchange processed over 70% of all BTC transactions. Soon, its reputation was left in the ground as hackers ransacked it because of poor controls. Mt. Gox stored all assets under its management within hot wallets, an obvious cause of disaster.
Mt. Gox will return 140,000 bitcoins to its creditors, worth about $15 billion – a tremendous increment in value compared to the collective value of the BTC stolen back in the day from the exchange. Back then, BTC was still worth $1000. It has risen to over $60,000 since and even crossed $70,000 earlier this month.
The news about the repayments caused BTC’s price to dip below $61,000. As this large amount of BTC returns to circulation, the asset’s price will expectedly drop. Traders believe it will fall sharply, as creditors would sell a portion of their returns to profit off BTC’s price rise over the years – something they got deprived of for so long.
