Mt. Gox Moves Billions in Bitcoin to Internal Wallets Executing Creditor Reimbursement Plan

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July 16, 2024 06:15 EDT

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Mt. Gox, the now-defunct crypto exchange that went bankrupt in 2014, has apparently transferred $2.7 billion in Bitcoin to an unknown wallet on Tuesday.

According to data tracked by Arkham Intellligence, a wallet associated with Mt. Gox started moving Bitcoins to internal wallets, possibly as a part of its creditor reimbursement plan.

The defunct exchange wallet initially moved 0.021 Bitcoins to a certain address, which is presumably a test transfer. Eventually, the Mt. Gox cold wallet moved a significant 44,527 BTC ($2.84 billion) to an internal wallet.

According to on-chain sleuth Lookonchain, the transfer indicates that the beleaguered company “may be preparing for repayment.”

Mt. Gox moved 44,527 $BTC(2.84B) to an internal wallet 5 minutes ago, which may be preparing for repayment.#MtGox currently holds 138,985 $BTC($8.87B).https://t.co/f2q66eQNuk pic.twitter.com/JlqkZdzkPC

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) July 16, 2024

As a result of the exchange’s mass Bitcoin move, the leading cryptocurrency by market cap fell 3% on renewed movement. BTC briefly fell from $65,000 mark to $63,000 during early Asia hours on Tuesday.

Mt. Gox’s Promise to Repay Creditors in July

The recent transfer aligns with the exchange’s repayment plan, announced in June. Mt. Gox said that it will start to repay assets stolen from clients in a 2014 hack in the first week of July, years after moving deadlines.

“The Rehabilitation Trustee has been preparing to make repayments in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash under the Rehabilitation Plan,” the announcement read. “The repayments will be made from the beginning of July 2024.”

In May, Mt. Gox transferred more than 140,000 BTC, worth around $9 billion, from cold wallets in 13 transactions. This marked the first on-chain wallet movements from the exchange in over five years.

Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, handled over 70% of all BTC transactions in its early years. However, hackers attacked the exchange in early 2014, stealing an estimated 740,000 Bitcoin ($46 billion at current prices).

The recent transfers spur fears of mass selling by creditors who have waited for a decade to receive these reimbursements.