Mt Gox customers will finally get some bitcoin back, a full decade after a large-scale theft led to the company announcing that it had almost no crypto left and filing for bankruptcy …
Tokyo-based crypto exchange Mt Gox suffered a huge crypto heist back in 2014, with almost all of its customers funds lost to the theft. At the time, the total loss was around $400M.
The good news is that the firm’s bankruptcy lawyers have announced the customers will see the return of some of their bitcoin. While this is just a fraction of the sum lost, the rise in value of the cryptocurrency means that customers will receive more back in dollar terms than they lost at the time.
So of the total $400M lost in 2014, some $9B worth of bitcoin will be handed back in 2024.
Wired reports.
In a highly atypical turn of events, Mt. Gox customers actually stand to profit financially from their involvement in the bankruptcy. Because only a limited amount of bitcoin was recovered, customers will receive only roughly 15 percent of the bitcoin they held on the exchange. However, the hundredfold increase in price in the intervening period means the dollar-value of the coins will far exceed the worth of their original pile. In all, around $9 billion worth of bitcoin will be returned.
Of course, that will be bittersweet news for those affected. On the one hand, relief that they will finally get something back after all appeared lost. On the other hand, had they held onto that bitcoin, it would now be worth massively more than they are receiving.
It’s a similar situation to FTX customers, who received 118% of the value of the coin lost at the time, but which would have been worth very much more by now.
The payback was made possible by the estate managing to recover 200,000 bitcoin from a wallet not targeted by the hackers because it was believed to be empty.
Photo by Michael Förtsch on Unsplash
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