Mt. Gox to Start Repayments in July; Bitcoin Falls Below $61K

Mt. Gox to Begin Repayments in July; Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash Markets May Face Selling Pressure

Defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has announced that it will start distributing assets stolen from clients during the infamous 2014 hack beginning in July 2024, following years of postponed deadlines. The repayments will be made in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, potentially adding selling pressure to both markets.

On Monday, Mt. Gox confirmed it will begin these distributions in the first week of July, having repeatedly extended the deadline previously. Nobuaki Kobayashi, the Rehabilitation Trustee, stated in a website post, "The Rehabilitation Trustee has been preparing to make repayments in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash under the Rehabilitation Plan. The repayments will be made from the beginning of July 2024," Kobayashi said, noting that due diligence and certain safety steps must be completed before payments are processed.

The repayments are expected to put selling pressure on the Bitcoin (BTC) markets, as early investors will receive assets at a significantly higher value than their initial investments before 2013, potentially leading them to sell at least a portion of their holdings, according to traders.

Mt. Gox was once the leading crypto exchange globally, managing over 70% of all Bitcoin transactions in its prime. In early 2014, the exchange was hacked, resulting in the loss of an estimated 740,000 Bitcoin (valued at approximately $15 billion at current prices). This hack was the largest among several attacks on the exchange between 2010 and 2013.

After years of planning, trustees developed a repayment plan, with a Tokyo court setting a final deadline of October 2024 last year. In May, the exchange moved over 140,000 BTC, worth around $9 billion, from cold wallets to an unknown address in 13 transactions, marking the first on-chain wallet movements in five years.

Following the announcement, Bitcoin prices fell from over $62,300 in early Asian hours to below $62,100, as reported by CoinGecko data.