The collapse of the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange in 2014 stands out as one of the industry’s first major scandals. The case is still pending resolution and has led to a recent transfer of $950 million in BTC to an unknown address. Are new reimbursements on the way?
Mt. Gox transfers 10,422 BTC to an unknown address
When it launched in 2010, the Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange appeared to be one of the main gateways to Bitcoin. This central position would be mirrored by its spectacular collapse in 2014, following a hack that resulted in the loss of 850,000 BTC.
This landmark case continues to make headlines in the industry more than a decade after the events, following the initiation of a reimbursement process that began last year. Notably, these payments are being made in BTC with the gains accumulated over the years, representing an estimated 10,000% increase.
This process is still ongoing, as the Mt. Gox address identified by the blockchain monitoring site Arkham Intelligence still shows a positive balance estimated at just over $3 billion (34,689 BTC). And, clearly, a new reimbursement campaign has just begun.
Data visible on the Arkham Intelligence website shows that two new transfers were made in the last few hours, totaling an estimated amount of just over $950 million at the time of the transactions—approximately 10,608 BTC in total. 185.5 BTC were transferred to Kraken, with the remainder (10,422 BTC) sent to an unknown address.
Mt. Gox transfers $950 million in BTC
Risk of selling pressure on Bitcoin?
Transfers of this type often trigger a new round of repayments to Mt. Gox creditors. However, there is no official information to confirm this scenario at the time of writing.
Originally scheduled—perhaps a bit too optimistically—for October 2023, the completion of these repayment procedures is now expected to take place in October of next year. Most often, this takes the form of payments made to accounts on cryptocurrency exchanges such as Kraken or Bitstamp.
With Bitcoin in a downtrend and attempting to stabilize around $90,000, the prospect of nearly $1 billion in BTC flooding into exchanges is somewhat concerning. Indeed, this could prompt some recipients of these refunds to take well-deserved profits before the price risks falling further.
However, this risk appears to be manageable, as the refunds issued so far have not triggered massive sell-offs. The most recent transfer of this kind, made in March for an estimated $1 billion, did not prevent BTC from continuing its upward trend toward its all-time high on October 6, at $126,000.
