Users of the collapsed Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, which folded back in 2014, will finally get their coins back. When that happens, approximately 140,000 Bitcoins, worth around $9 billion, will enter the market.
Mt. Gox, based in Tokyo, Japan, was once the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world and by 2014 handled an estimated 70% of all Bitcoin transfers in the world. However, the exchange was forced to cease operation and declare bankruptcy in early 2014 after a hack resulted in the theft of 950,000 Bitcoins.
Mt. Gox managed to recoup 140,000 stolen Bitcoins and will start distributing them to creditors at some point in July, according to the trustee appointed by the court to oversee the exchange’s bankruptcy.
The expectation is that the majority of the creditors will sell their Bitcoins to take advantage of the 10,000% gain from their investments. This will likely cause Bitcoin’s price to slump in the short term, although analysts expect it to bounce back rather quickly.
“Assuming most of the liquidations by Mt. Gox creditors take place in July, [this] creates a trajectory where crypto prices come under further pressure in July, but start rebounding from August onwards,” JPMorgan Chase’s analyst wrote in a note sent to clients last week.
Bitcoin has been trading between $60K and $62K over the weekend and is currently more than 40% up year-to-date.