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Nearly seven years after one of the biggest crypto hacks of all time, former customers of the Japanese crypto exchange Mt. Gox are now on track to receive reimbursements.
The now-defunct Mt. Gox collapsed in 2014 after it was hit by an attacker who stole 850,000 Bitcoin worth about $500 million at the time.
Customers who lost money in the hack recently voted to approve a “rehabilitation plan” that is expected to become final and binding next month, according to an announcement issued last week.
The creditors are reportedly slated to receive around $9 billion worth of crypto and fiat currency. Mt. Gox’s trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, held 141,686 Bitcoin, worth $8.9 billion at time of writing, as well as 142,846 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), worth $88.70 million, in addition to cash, according to a 2019 filing.
WizSec, a group of Bitcoin security specialists investigating Mt. Gox, notes in a blog that the civil rehabilitation plan offers creditors the option of taking early lump-sum payments at a fixed 21% payout rate.
“The 21% rate is calculated by the trustee to be a realistic estimate of the real final payment rate with a small buffer. The best-case estimate for the final payment rate (if the trustee wins every single dispute and nothing unexpected happens) is something like 23.6%, with realistic estimates being lower depending on how many additional claims are accepted. The early payment includes both fiat and BTC/BCH, same as the final payment.
In other words, the early lump-sum payment offers at least 90% of what you can realistically hope to get by staying in until the end, except you get paid much sooner.”
