The bankrupt exchange Mt. Gox has executed a transfer of 11,501 BTC, valued at approximately $1.01 billion, marking its third significant transaction this month, which coincides with a test transfer involving the Kraken exchange.
A blockchain analytics company flagged the movement of assets from Mt. Gox’s wallet on March 25. The transactions consisted of 893 Bitcoin (BTC) (roughly $78 million) being sent to a new address, as well as 10,608 BTC (around $929 million) redirected to another wallet under Mt. Gox’s control. Additionally, a small amount of 0.000017 BTC was transferred to Kraken, likely as a test.
There is speculation that these moves could be tied to potential repayments to creditors. This follows earlier transactions earlier in the month, including a transfer of 12,000 BTC on March 6 and another of 11,833 BTC on March 11. Analysis indicated that some of these earlier transfers made their way to the Bitstamp exchange.
Mt. Gox, once the largest Bitcoin exchange globally, filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after losing approximately 850,000 BTC, at that time worth nearly $500 million. The collapse was attributed to a hacking incident, which was later linked to prolonged security deficiencies. The situation has led to numerous legal disputes over the years, resulting in the postponement of creditor repayments.
As of March 25, data from a blockchain analytics service indicates that Mt. Gox still possesses around 35,000 Bitcoin, valued at about $3.08 billion. The exchange recently delayed its repayment timeline from October 31, 2024, to October 31, 2025, citing ongoing issues with verification and processing.
Historically, significant Bitcoin transfers from entities like Mt. Gox have led to market volatility. However, recent transfers appear to have had a diminished impact on Bitcoin’s price. At the time of reporting, the cryptocurrency is trading at approximately $86,500, demonstrating a robust recovery from a recent 7-day low of $81,259.