The cryptocurrency market was once again fearful that a huge amount of bitcoin (BTC) was about to be dumped. That could have caused a lot of selling pressure and a falling price. That is not going to happen for the time being, as this was postponed again yesterday.
The infamous bitcoin of Mt. gox
This concerns the bitcoin of the infamous Mt. Gox exchange. mt. Gox was once by far the largest bitcoin exchange in the world, but went bankrupt in 2014 after a massive hack. No less than 850,000 BTC was stolen at the time, which today would be worth around 17 billion euros.
Victims have been waiting for their bitcoins for years. At least some of it, as only 130,000 BTC had been recovered. Yet these bitcoins are worth about 2.6 billion euros today and so the story still plays in the bitcoin news.
It was expected that these bitcoins would be distributed among the victims at the end of August. The value of this BTC has increased by no less than 50 times since 2014. The market was afraid that a large part would be sold immediately. That could have had a negative impact on the bitcoin price.
mt. Gox bitcoin release postponed again
On August 31, curator Nobuaki Kobayashi announced in a new document indicated that victims have until September 15 to submit their claim.
In the crypto world, the conclusion is quickly drawn that on September 15, these bitcoins may be dumped, but that is not true. As Twitterer Django Bits explains below, there is still a whole process involved, including know your customer (KYC) measures. This process could take months, if not years, the Twitter user says.
Mark Karpelès, former CEO of Mt. Gox, responds and says it probably won’t be years, but months. Incidentally, the BTC will probably not be released in one go, but in parts. The possible effect of this bitcoin on the market is therefore perhaps mainly fear, uncertainty & doubt (FUD).
Probably not years, as now that claim transfers have been shut off, people have no choice but to wait. This is the final step into starting asking people for payout information before finally transferring everything months from now.
— Mark Karpeles (@MagicalTux) August 31, 2022