The Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange that collapsed in 2014, MtGox, has notified some of its creditors that it would begin repaying them “shortly”. The company that postponed the repayment deadline on multiple occasions now apparently plans to start them before 2023 is out and complete them during 2024.
In the following weeks and months, creditors will receive 142,000 Bitcoin (BTC), 143,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), ¥69 billion – worth more than $5.67 billion in total at the time of writing – along with other assets, according to an X post by crypto journalist Colin Wu.
MtGox also specified that creditors whose chosen payment methods were assessed as “effective at this time” would receive repayments. The bankrupt company asked customers affected by its collapse to select a preferred payment method in the leadup to its previously anticipated repayment deadline in January 2023.
MtGox could cause downward pressure for BTC
MtGox repayments have been eagerly and anxiously awaited for years. The exchange opened in 2010 and lost about 850,000 BTC – worth $500 million at the time – to unknown hackers by 2014. The theft caused the exchange to shut down and, in turn, affected approximately 24,000 users. The total value of the stolen cryptocurrency, based on the price at the time of publication, is approximately $31 billion.
Since then, around 200,000 BTC has been recovered, and the repayment deadline has been pushed back multiple times – most recently from October 31, 2023, to October 31, 2024. Some experts have expressed their concerns over the repayments throughout the years.
While the number of Bitcoins to be returned is very small compared to the entire circulating supply, its sudden reintroduction into the market could cause noticeable downward pressure that could trigger a selloff.
Similar concerns have been raised over FTX’s recently-announced plans to offload $100 million worth of cryptocurrencies each week and over the U.S. government’s sale of approximately 40,000 BTC seized from the Silk Road – a dark web marketplace.
