Mt. Gox was the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, located in Japan. Founded in 2010, it quickly became the most popular place for trading Bitcoin. This lasted until 2014 when Mt. Gox suspended withdrawals and opened preliminary measures against insolvency, causing them to lose access to nearly 850,000 Bitcoins. Now, speculation suggests that the remaining tokens will be released soon, potentially impacting the market.
How will these events affect the market?
As of March 2023, the events surrounding Mt. Gox are slowly coming to an end with an expected gradual unlocking of 137,890 Bitcoins (worth approximately $3 billion today). Given the size of this amount, many fear it could have a negative impact on the Bitcoin market. However, the effects may not be as bad as expected. Since the amount is divided among creditors, it is unlikely that everyone will immediately sell everything. Moreover, it is not yet entirely clear what exact schedule will be set and when all tokens will actually be released.
Mt. Gox creditors may receive repayments from March 10 onward.
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 6, 2023
137,890 $BTC($3B) unlock is coming soon!
Mt. Gox suspended withdrawals on Feb 7, 2014, when the price of $BTC was ~$800.
And the current price of $BTC is $22,408.
Will creditors sell $BTC after receiving it? pic.twitter.com/hEgxGc1uJy
What was Mt. Gox?
Mt. Gox was a Japanese Bitcoin exchange founded by Jed McCaleb in 2010 – the same person who later created Ripple and Stellar. It was the first cryptocurrency exchange and quickly became the most popular worldwide. However, on February 7, 2014, it suspended all withdrawals and opened preliminary measures against insolvency. This led to a massive gap in funds, equivalent to nearly 850,000 Bitcoins. Since then, the legal battle involving a group of MtGox creditors has been ongoing and has not yet been fully resolved.
Will the Bitcoins actually be released? And to what extent will this fundamental event affect Bitcoin's price? It is unclear, but it is likely to be more of a short-term situation.
At this web address, you can monitor the movements of MtGox's cold wallets.