Mt. Gox Bitcoin Holdings Are Once Again on the Move, $2.19B Worth of BTC Exits the Exchange's Cold Wallet

A cold wallet (12Gws) associated with the now-collapsed crypto exchange Mt. Gox transferred 32371 Bitcoin to an unknown wallet address starting with 1FG2Cv.

A cold wallet (12Gws) linked to the failed crypto exchange Mt. Gox has shifted 32,371 Bitcoin to an unidentified wallet address starting with 1FG2Cv, according to data from the intelligence platform Arkham. The transaction occurred at 7:38 UTC+8.

Mt. Gox’s cold wallets are still holding 44,378 Bitcoin, which is valued at $3 billion at current market rates. Movements have been observed in Mt Gox’s wallets, with the exchange recently transferring 500 Bitcoin ($35 million) to unknown addresses.

While the exchange and the trustee have not disclosed the purpose of these transactions, many speculate that they are part of the exchange's efforts to repay creditors under a rehabilitation plan approved in 2021.

Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after suffering a series of hacks that depleted its clients' Bitcoin holdings. The exchange is estimated to have lost around 850,000 Bitcoin in the hacks, but law enforcement was able to track down and recover about 140,000 Bitcoin.

The exchange's trustees chose major crypto exchanges Kraken, Bitstamp, Bitbank, SBI VC Trade, and BitGo to handle the distribution process. Some creditors have already received payments, but the process has been slow and is expected to continue for some time.

In July, Kraken received 48,641 BTC in creditor funds from the Mt. Gox Trustee, which was valued at around $3.1 billion at the time. The exchange announced a 7- to 14-day window for the distribution process in an official statement.

Mt. Gox trustee extends repayment deadline to October 2025

The trustee overseeing the creditor reimbursement process has extended the deadline for repaying former Mt. Gox customers by twelve months, to the end of October 2025, from the previous deadline of October 2024. The extension was approved by the court and announced on October 10, 2024.

In his request for the extension, the trustee cited problems with creditors failing to complete the necessary paperwork for the repayment and technical issues.

The reimbursement process involves shifting large volumes of Bitcoin, valued at billions of dollars. After a decade of waiting, analysts are concerned that the exchange's creditors may sell off their assets, causing a market selloff.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $68,230, showing little change over the last 24 hours with a 1% dip. According to the price data aggregator CoinMarketCap, the asset price has decreased by close to 4%.

Bitcoin briefly touched the 73k price towards the end of October but has declined to its current rate ever since. Analysts predict the broader crypto landscape could witness increased volatility following the anticipated U.S. elections that have extended campaigns to the crypto community.