Mt. Gox, a popular one Bitcoin stock exchange that was forced to close eight years ago after a crippling hack, has announced it will start paying back previous users over time.
According to a Wednesday notice to creditors released by Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, previously Mt. Gox customers have until September 15 to submit or transfer a claim.
The defunct crypto exchange – once the largest in the world – shut down in 2014 after losing 850,000 Bitcoins (today worth $16.8 billion) in a big hack.
Since then, former Mt. Gox users were waiting to receive payouts after a long, drawn-out legal battle: the defunct exchange’s rehabilitation plan has been delayed several times and ex-CEO Mark Karpeles was hit with a lawsuit for fraud and negligence (which was scrapped last year).
“The basic deadline for repayment has been set by the rehabilitation administrator with permission from the court as the date deemed appropriate for repayment and will be set in due course,” said Wednesday’s notice.
All creditors will receive a “base payment,” the document said, and they can choose to get the rest of their money through an early lump sum payment or receive it later. Creditors filing claims after September 15 cannot be processed, the document added.
The basic deadline for repayment has not yet been announced.
Earlier this week, rumors spread on Twitter that Mt. Gox would make refunds this week – but this was it dismissed online by former users, such as former Arcane Assets Chief Investment Officer Eric Wall.
Some have speculated that the eventual release of Mt. Gox funds could send the price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency plummeting. But the current plan involves releasing Bitcoin, and cash from liquidated Bitcoin, in tranches, presumably to avoid just this kind of market shock. An official timeline for when the money will be released is also not public, as yesterday’s document noted.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading at $19,795, down 1.7% in 24 hours, according to CoinGecko.
Tokyo-based Mt. Gox was once the largest crypto exchange, handling more than 70% of global Bitcoin trading volume. But the exchange lacked security and the heist, in which criminals swiped funds from over 24,000 customers, remains one of the biggest hacks in crypto history.
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