The old sea serpent Mt.Gox is back. Bitcoin finds itself under pressure on the eve of repayments from creditors.
Mt.Gox, biggest hack in history
Mt.Gox was the largest bitcoin exchange in the world from 2010 to 2014. The name Mt.Gox derives from the acronym “Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange”. The site was used in the past to exchange “Magic” cards.
In 2011, Frenchman Mark Karpelès will become CEO. With success, since the exchange accounted for more than 70% of global volumes in 2013 ($5 to 20 million per day, compared to 1,000 times more today).
But everything collapsed in February 2014. The exchange was hacked 850,000 BTC. Or the equivalent of 680 million dollars for the time (1 BTC = 800 $), against 19 billion dollars at the current price. That is 28 times more.
Mark Karpelès will be arrested in August by the Japanese police, then released on bail 10 months later after refusing to confess to a possible inside job.
Mt.Gox, however, still held 200,000 BTC at the time of its bankruptcy. Which, at the current price, represents a higher sum than that lost at the time of the events. Nevertheless, 62,000 BTC were sold by the trustee to pay for attorney fees, etc.
Here is a thread in English on the whole History of Mt.Gox for anglophiles:
Downside pressure ahead?
It depends on how customers will want to be reimbursed. In an announcement on March 7, Mt.Gox administrator Nobuaki Kobayashi reiterated that creditors have until the end of the week (March 10) to register and choose a repayment method.
Creditors have two options. Receive now about 90% of the amount owed to them now. Where to wait a few more years to hope to potentially receive more.
Creditors will recover approximately 138,000 BTC and as much BCH (Bitcoin Cash from the 2017 fork). As well as 69 billion yen ($510 million).
Mt.Gox customers should therefore receive a sum nearly four times greater than that lost in 2014. Small consolation after this legal hell that lasted nearly a decade…
After 10 years of waiting, we bet that everyone will choose an immediate payment. It remains to be seen which reimbursement options will be chosen. BTC, BCH, fiat?
We already know that the two biggest creditors of Mt.Gox (Bitcoinica and MtGox Investment Funds) will receive BTC exclusively. Knowing that these two creditors represent 21% of the funds to be reimbursed.
That said, creditors can perfectly decide to sell these BTCs in stride. Mt.Gox’s creditors probably had time to figure out what would make them happy with that money…
In addition, we learn this Wednesday, March 8 by Glassnode that 40,000 BTC associated with a wallet held by the American Justice are in motion. Nearly 10,000 BTC were transferred to a Coinbase exchange wallet, surely to be sold.
In short, the risk of observing downward pressure over the next few weeks is high.
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