Mt. Gox Moves Over 33,000 BTC as Its Repayment Plan Nears the End

Defunct Japanese-based Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, has executed another massive BTC transfer, moving over $2 billion worth of BTC to crypto wallet addresses.

Defunct Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has completed another large-scale Bitcoin (BTC) transfer, moving over $2 billion in BTC to several crypto wallet addresses. The latest transfer brings Mt. Gox’s total Bitcoin distribution holdings closer to depletion as the exchange carries out its final large-scale BTC transfers.

Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, halted operations in 2014 after a devastating hack resulted in the theft of customer funds. The incident, which occurred on February 24, 2014, saw hackers exploiting a flaw in the exchange’s multi-signature system, leading to the theft of 650,000 BTC. At the time of the hack, the stolen Bitcoin was valued at around $450 million, marking a significant loss for the exchange.

However, unknown to the exchange and its customers, Mt. Gox had been insolvent for two years before the hack, keeping customers’ trades afloat by using customer deposits to cover traders’ losses. The exchange’s accounting practices were also found to be flawed, with the exchange overstating its BTC holdings by around 99%.

After filing for bankruptcy protection in April 2014, Mt. Gox was liquidated later that year with creditors set to receive a portion of the exchange’s recovered assets. However, the exchange’s recovery plans were delayed by several factors, including a legal battle over the exchange’s remaining assets.

In November 2021, a Japanese court approved a rehabilitation plan for Mt. Gox, allowing the exchange to begin repaying creditors in Bitcoin and BCH. The exchange later announced that it would start distributing recovered BTC and BCH to creditors on June 30.

According to a recent X (formerly Twitter) post by Arkham Intelligence, the AI-powered blockchain analytics platform, Mt. Gox conducted another large BTC transfer on July 31. The platform’s reports indicate that the defunct Bitcoin exchange moved 33,960 BTC valued at $2.25 billion on Monday.

Arkham’s analysis suggests that the massive Bitcoin transfer was likely sent to addresses believed to be owned by BitGo, a digital asset trust company and security firm. According to Arkham, BitGo is the fifth and final custodian working directly with Mt.Gox to help return funds back to creditors.

With the latest 33,960 Bitcoin transfer, Mt. Gox now holds about 32,899 BTC, valued at over $2.11 billion, based on the current BTC price of $64,622 ( at the time of writing) as reported by CoinMarketCap.

Earlier this month, Mt. Gox announced that it had started distributing recovered Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to creditors affected by the exchange’s 2014 hack. During the hack, customer funds were stolen by attackers who exploited a flaw in the exchange’s multi-signature system, leading to the theft of hundreds of thousands of BTC.

The stolen BTC was valued at around $450 million at the time of the incident, a substantial loss for the exchange. However, the exchange’s total Bitcoin recovered since the hack is about 141,686 BTC. After a series of large scale BTC transfers, the exchange’s BTC distribution holdings have reduced dramatically, reflecting a 76.5% decrease from the original amount.

Meanwhile, blockchain analysis platform Lookonchain also reported that Mt. Gox initiated a massive Bitcoin transfer on July 31. The crypto platform disclosed that Mt. Gox moved a staggering 47,229 BTC, worth approximately $3.13 billion, to three unknown wallets.

Furthermore, Lookonchain added that Mt. Gox had moved 61,559 BTC, valued at approximately $3.89 billion to various crypto exchanges, including Bitstamp, Kraken, Bitbank and SBI VC Trade since July 5. With less than half of its Bitcoin repayment funds left, Mt. Gox’s reimbursement plans are finally coming to an end.

In a statement released on July 24, Mt. Gox’s rehabilitation trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, announced that the Bitcoin exchange had completed repayments in Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash to over 17,000 creditors.

The statement noted that following the repayments on July 5 and 16, the trustee had made repayments to various creditors on July 24 using designated cryptocurrency exchanges.小林 also revealed that further payments will be executed promptly after the redistribution conditions for Mt Gox creditors have been met.

The Trustee urged the remaining eligible rehabilitation creditors to be patient as the repayment process continues.