A substantial amount of Bitcoin (BTC) from the infamously collapsed cryptocurrency exchange, Mt. Gox, has made its way back to original investors. Despite this, those who had their assets locked away for the past 10 years are not rushing to sell, according to a recent report by Glassnode. Specifically, 41.5 percent, or 59,000 out of a total 141,686 BTC has been distributed back to Mt. Gox’s frustrated creditors.
This 59,000 BTC is currently worth a staggering $4 billion. However, despite the immense value increase of these assets over the past decade – a growth of over 8500 percent – the majority of those receiving their bitcoins opt to keep holding. In a landmark move for the Japanese bankruptcy law, the Mt. Gox creditors chose to receive restitution in BTC rather than traditional fiat currency.
Mitigating the threat of a sharp Bitcoin depreciation, the creditors, owed more than $9.4 billion total in Bitcoin, are not applying any significant sell pressure to the market. This cautious approach by the investors comes following the distribution of BTC by Kraken exchange, signaling the end of a weeklong payout process on July 24.
Notably, Mt. Gox was a pioneer Bitcoin exchange based in Japan. It dominated the market with over 70% of global Bitcoin transactions occurring through its platform. However, the exchange suffered one of the largest cybersecurity breaches in crypto history, losing 850,000 BTC.
Yet, with trade volumes remaining stable on exchanges and no significant increase in spot buying and selling activity, it seems many creditors are not looking for a quick exit, holding on to the BTC they’ve waited so long to recover.