After a decade-long wait, early Bitcoin investors are finally set to receive their digital coins back from the collapsed exchange Mt. Gox. Movements by the now-defunct exchange’s trustee earlier this week spooked investors when a test transaction moved $2.8 billion in BTC into one of its cold wallets, according to crypt analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.
Attention shifted back to earlier massive transfers to exchanges when top American crypto exchange Kraken informed customers on Wednesday that they could receive their Bitcoin in “7-14 days.” Kraken is one of five exchanges selected to distribute the virtual coins as part of a repayment process to over 20,000 former Mt. Gox customers. Along with Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank, some 13,000 customers are set to receive BTC, with the remaining customers to get their repayments through the three other exchanges.
Most customers expecting repayment should receive their coins by early August. The Mt. Gox trustees have given the five exchanges varying deadlines to make their payouts. Bitstamp has said it will begin distributions “as soon as possible” and not take the full 60 days it was allotted.
Arkham Intelligence, tracking several high-profile digital asset wallets, shows that the Mt. Gox wallet now holds about 90,000 Bitcoin, worth over $6 billion. As large amounts of BTC were moved by Mt. Gox trustees and the German government in recent weeks, the price of Bitcoin faced downward pressure. However, the top cryptocurrency proved resilient, reaching its highest price in a month.
