In a recent survey conducted within the Reddit community, creditors of the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox which collapsed into bankruptcy a decade ago, are reluctant to sell their Bitcoin payouts. More than 50% of the creditors are willing to hold their Bitcoin repaid by the exchange.
Mt. Gox, once the dominant Bitcoin exchange globally handling approximately 70% of BTC transactions, crumbled in 2014 due to insolvency. This followed reports of a massive shortfall – a staggering 850,000 Bitcoins missing. The exchange had been grappling with security issues since 2011, with earlier losses reported at 25,000 Bitcoins. After a lengthy legal process, a court-appointed trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, finally began repayments to creditors on July 5, 2024.
Approximately 20% of creditors intend to sell all of their Bitcoin holdings
A recent poll on the Mt. Gox Insolvency subreddit, which closed on July 13th, revealed how creditors plan to handle their Bitcoin payouts. Over half (56%) of participants, representing roughly 260 people, intend to hold onto all their Bitcoin. This strategy aligns with a popular investment approach in the cryptocurrency world called “HODL,” where investors choose to keep their Bitcoin despite market ups and downs.
However, not everyone plans to hold. Around 20% (88 people) said they would sell everything they receive. Additionally, 14% plan to sell up to a quarter of their payout, and another 6% intend to sell up to half.
Mt. Gox has already distributed 36% of the owed Bitcoin
Meanwhile, significant BTC payouts have already been distributed to creditors. According to CryptoQuant data, as of July 17, more than 36% of the owed BTC has been disbursed.
An official update from the Mt. Gox rehabilitation trustee reported that as of July 16, over 13,000 creditors have received repayments in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
According to information from Mt. Gox Balance Bot, around 47,229 bitcoins were transferred to addresses linked with Japanese exchanges Bitbank and SBI VC Trade. These exchanges, among five chosen to handle creditor repayments, promptly distributed their allotted funds, completing the process well within the agreed maximum period of two weeks.
On July 16, Kraken, another firm chosen for creditor distributions, confirmed receiving bitcoin and bitcoin cash from the Mt. Gox Rehabilitation Trustee. The trustee had transferred approximately 48,641 bitcoins earlier that day. Kraken expects to credit these funds to clients’ accounts within 7 to 14 days, although they have up to 90 days to complete the process.
As of July 18, 2024, the remaining firms designated for distributing payments to creditors, BitGo and Bitstamp, have not yet received their allocations. BitGo anticipates processing within up to 20 days upon receipt, while Bitstamp may take up to 60 days to complete their distributions.
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