Mt. Gox, the crypto exchange that declared bankruptcy in 2014 after losing a significant amount of Bitcoin in a hack, has pushed back its deadline to repay creditors once again.
In a notice issued on Sept. 21, the exchange’s rehabilitation trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, said the repayment deadline had been extended by 12 months to Oct. 31, 2024.
Kobayashi cited an insufficient time frame to verify the information provided by creditors, and engage in relevant discussions with banks, crypto exchanges and other fund transfer providers.
For the creditors that have provided the necessary information, however, repayments will be made in sequence as early as the end of this year, Kobayashi noted.
In a 2014 hack, the exchange lost 850,000 BTC which would be worth around $23 billion at current prices. After the hack, Mt. Gox managed to recover around 20% of the lost funds, and now has 142,000 Bitcoin (BTC), 143,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and 69 billion Japanese yen in its possession.
In total, the exchange owes creditors more than $4.3 billion, and market participants have raised concerns that the eventual payout would have a considerable impact on the crypto market, with a high volume of sell pressure sending prices lower.
Still, this isn’t the first or second time that the repayment deadline has been pushed in the nine years since the exchange declared bankruptcy.
10 years later:
Once again, Mt Gox trustee moved the repayment deadline from October 31, 2033, to October 31, 2034 (one year forward)
— Coinalyze (@coinalyzetool) September 21, 2023