Kraken has begun distributing Bitcoin received from the Mt. Gox Trustee on July 16, providing relief to creditors nearly ten years after the historic hack. Creditors reported seeing their crypto balances on Kraken, confirming the update on a specific Reddit subreddit.
Several Mt. Gox claimants also reported receiving Bitcoin Cash tokens. Kraken had committed to disbursing funds within seven to 14 days after Mt. Gox moved approximately $6 billion in crypto to various addresses. However, users noted brute force attacks on accounts, suggesting attempts by bad actors to steal these assets.
On July 23, Arkham highlighted that Mt. Gox transferred $2.85 billion in BTC to four Bitstamp wallets. This includes transfers of 1598 BTC ($106.3 million) and 2239 BTC ($149.1 million). It remains unclear if Bitstamp will follow Kraken’s two-week distribution window.
Mt. Gox, based in Shibuya, Tokyo, was hacked six times between 2011 and 2014, losing over 850,000 BTC. The stolen amount is now valued at over $60 billion. At least $9 billion is owed to creditors, raising questions about whether they will sell their BTC, potentially impacting the market.
As of this writing, Bitcoin trades at approximately $65,800 per token, down 2.3%. The strategic importance of these distributions lies in their potential to influence Bitcoin’s market dynamics significantly.
