The largest creditor of the failed Mt. Gox crypto exchange intends to hold rather than sell the Bitcoin that’s due to be disbursed to it this year.
(Bloomberg) — The largest creditor of the failed Mt. Gox crypto exchange intends to hold rather than sell the Bitcoin that’s due to be disbursed to it this year.
The Mt Gox Investment Fund — which bought claims against the bankrupt digital-asset platform — doesn’t plan to sell the tokens that are scheduled to be returned in October, according to a person familiar with the fund’s thinking, who asked not to be identified discussing private information.
The fund chose an early payout instead of waiting for all the litigation over the collapsed exchange to be resolved. It will get 90% of what’s collectible in a ratio of roughly 70% Bitcoin and 30% cash, the person said. They declined to specify the amount of Bitcoin the fund expects to receive.
Mt. Gox creditors have until April 6 to decide whether to chose the October payout or to wait longer to recover a higher percentage of their claims. The Tokyo-based platform was once the biggest Bitcoin exchange, but it lost some customer assets and then went bankrupt in 2014.
The bankruptcy trustee held a trove of 141,686 Bitcoin as well as cash and Bitcoin Cash coins as of September 2019, according to prior documents. At current prices, that Bitcoin is worth about $3.1 billion.
Crypto investors have long fretted about the implications if many of the tokens are sold as claims are resolved. Bitcoin this year has partially rebounded from a rout but the revival is fizzling, leaving the world’s largest digital asset about $47,000 off a record of almost $69,000 set in 2021.
The trustee extended the deadline for creditors to register their details with the platform on Thursday, pushing it back from an earlier date of March 10. Having obtained court permission, repayment deadlines were also changed from September 30 to October 31, 2023.
–With assistance from Takashi Nakamichi and Nao Sano.
(Updates throughout to reflect change in deadlines by Mt. Gox trustee)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.