Kraken began distributing the bitcoin it received from Mt. Gox custodian on July 16.
Creditors of defunct Bitcoin (BTC) exchange Mt. Gox reported seeing cryptocurrency balances on the Kraken platform, as affected users felt a sense of relief 10 years after the historic hack. The news was Certain On Reddit via a subreddit called “mtgoxinsolvency”.
Several users believed to be Mt. Gox claimants were seen checking the update. Some also reported receiving Bitcoin Cash (BCH) tokens.
According to crypto.news, Kraken has pledged to disburse funds to creditors within seven to 14 days. This comes after Mt. Gox moved around $6 billion worth of cryptocurrencies to multiple addresses. Users have also noticed “brute force” attacks on accounts, suggesting that bad actors tried to steal relief assets.
On July 23, Arcam also noted that the bankrupt Bitcoin exchange sent $2.85 to four Bitstamp wallets. On-chain data showed transfers of 1,598 BTC ($106.3 million), 382.4 BTC ($25.4 million), 2,239 BTC ($149.1 million), and 890.9 BTC ($59.3 million), respectively. It is unknown whether Bitstamp will adhere to the same two-week distribution window as Kraken.
Will Mt. Gox Creditors Sell Their Bitcoin?
Headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo, Mt. Gox was hacked six times between 2011 and 2014, with hackers stealing more than 850,000 bitcoins. The incident remains one of the largest cryptocurrency hacks in history, with the loot currently estimated to be worth more than $60 billion.
Creditors are owed at least $9 billion, and market watchers are divided on whether creditors will sell. If users decide to dump their bitcoins, Bitcoin could come under selling pressure. At the time of writing, the token is down 2.3% and is worth about $65,800 per token.
