Mt. Gox Confirms Creditors’ Bitcoin Accounts For Repayment

Mt. Gox, the crypto exchange that faced a major hack, is making significant progress toward reimbursing its creditors in Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Mt. Gox Rehabilitation Trustee has been actively contacting affected parties to verify their identities and confirm account details necessary for repayment.

Many creditors have received emails from the company confirming ownership of their accounts and identity verification with a custodian or crypto exchange that they entered previously as the payment address for BTC/BCH.

An email shared on Mt. Gox’s insolvency hub on Reddit on Jan. 22 showed that a crypto exchange mentioned in the user’s rehabilitation claim has successfully confirmed account ownership with the trustee. The email also warned the recipient about potential issues in receiving BTC/BCH if the account becomes frozen or disabled.

Many Bitstamp users got the emails, and some Kraken users also confirmed receiving similar messages. However, most Kraken users have yet to receive such emails. Some crypto exchanges involved in the Mt. Gox repayment process have assured their users that they will keep servicing Mt. Gox-related accounts in certain countries despite leaving those jurisdictions. 

For instance, Bitstamp, which ceased its operations in Canada on January 4th, 2024, will keep servicing local accounts involved in the Mt. Gox settlement. However, these accounts will only be available for withdrawals; other services, such as deposits and trading, will not be available.

In a post on X, Mindao Yang, the founder of the dForce Network, said the Mt. Gox Bitcoin distribution could influence the crypto market in the next two months.

MtGOX BTC distribution is expected to hit the market over the next 2 months, 200K BTC unlock.

This is in addition to 600K + GBTC repricing.

2024 April halving will reduce annual supply by 160k.

Interesting supply dynamics in play in coming months. pic.twitter.com/0ZNC52YbAH

— Mindao (@mindaoyang) January 23, 2024

October 2024 Deadline

Founded in 2010, Mt. Gox was once the world’s largest BTC exchange, handling about 70% of all Bitcoin transactions before its failure. The company faced a major setback with a security breach in 2014, losing 850,000 BTC. This incident marked one of the most significant crypto bankruptcies to date. Consequently, the authorities filed charges against the former CEO of the exchange.

The first creditor repayments started in December, with several reportedly receiving their repayments twice. In September, the exchange extended the repayment deadline by a year to October 2024. At the time, the Mt. Gox estate held 142,000 BTC (worth $5.5 billion), 143,000 BTC ($32 million), and 69 billion Japanese yen ($466 million).