- Mt.Gox Bitcoin exploit took place in 2014.
- The exploit remains the largest Bitcoin exploit in the history of cryptocurrencies.
- Mt.Gox creators may however start receiving their bitcoins this month.
Mt.Gox creditors may have a reason to smile after the exchange’s January statement hinted that the creditors could start receiving their Bitcoin (BTC) this month.
It is about 8 years since The Mt. Gox hack occurred in early 2014 resulting in the loss of about 850,000 BTC which at today’s bitcoin value is worth more than $20.060 billion making it the worst Bitcoin hack ever as detailed in our Bitcoin statistics research.
Most Mt.Gox creditors lost hope of getting their bitcoins back since the issue has dragged on for years. One Mt. Gox creditor, Adam Back who is also the Blockstream CEO said via Telegram:
“Well, for myself, I had pretty much written off the Bitcoin I still had on Mt. Gox in 2014 as a loss, so philosophically anything I get back now is a bonus to cold store. It has stretched on for many more years than anyone expected, and so it will be welcome I am sure by any creditors to finally get paid.”
Early repayments to start from March 10
According to Mt.Gox’s January statement, creditors are expected to start seeing early bitcoin repayments from March 10. The early repayment process is planned to continue for a period of about seven months up to September 30, 2023.
The early repayments include early lump sum payments and intermediate payments. Further repayment amounts are to be made later.
Mt.Gox creditors were supposed to register with an exchange and nominate it to receive the repayments on their behalf. Exchanges have however given various timelines for processing payments. BitGo crypto exchange, for example, said that they will take about 20 days to process the repayments, while Kraken said that processing the payments could take up to 90 days.
Amount of bitcoin to be repaid
It is not clear how much bitcoin will be repaid to the Mt.Gox creditors during the repayment period. However, it is clear that it will be a portion of Mt.Gox’s balance sheet that according to a balance sheet in 2019 totals about 142,000 BTC, 143,000 BCH, and 69 billion Yen. The balance sheet is believed to have not changed much since then.
There are expectations that the claimants may receive about 21% of the civil rehabilitation claim value because the exchange rates have been revalued since the time of bankruptcy filing.
According to a moderator of the MtGoxInsolvency subreddit, the first 200,000 Yen worth of each creditor’s claim will be paid in Yen. If the claim is greater than 200,000 Yen, the creditors will choose crypto and cash, where they will receive 71% repayment in crypto and 29% in cash after the initial payment.