Nobuaki Kobayashi, the trustee for Mt. Gox, announced a 12-month extension to the exchange’s planned repayment timetable.
The repayment deadlines for the creditors of the defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox have been extended by one year, according to a letter from Nobuaki Kobayashi, the business’s rehabilitation trustee, dated September 21.
Repayments are now anticipated to be completed by October 31, 2024, as opposed to the original deadline of October 31, 2023. Kobayashi added that the sequence of repayments might start by the end of this year for rehabilitation creditors who have provided all essential information.
He did, however, issue a warning that the schedule might alter depending on several variables, and the precise timeframe for each creditor is yet unknown.
After Kobayashi stated in April that the deadline for creditors to submit repayment information had passed, this declaration followed. Despite the fact that the final repayments are getting closer, the announcement could be perceived as another postponement in a string of setbacks.
When it was at its peak, Mt. Gox handled more than 70% of all blockchain trades, making it a prominent player in the early days of cryptocurrency trading.
In 2014, the exchange was the victim of a severe hack that cost 850,000 Bitcoin (BTC), which, at the time, was worth approximately $23 billion. The exchange has since recovered about 20% of the taken tokens.
The financial company UBS had previously stated that while the Mt. Gox repayments would affect Bitcoin values, they won’t cause the cryptocurrency to become unstable.
Mt. Gox is expected to reimburse 141,686 Bitcoin, 143,000 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and a substantial 69 billion yen under the terms of the current rehabilitation plan.
The market impact, though, might be obscure. Until the April deadline, creditors had the choice of receiving fiat or cryptocurrency repayments. Each claim will receive the first 200,000 yen (about $1,520) in yen, and for sums over this, creditors can choose to receive 71% in cryptocurrency and the remaining 29% in fiat.
This mixed-format strategy may reduce the possibility of an unexpected influx of BTC into the market. Market impact is also affected by substantial creditors like Bitcoinica and the Mt. Gox Investment Funds, who make up about 20% of total claims.
The immediate selling pressure is lessened because the Mt. Gox Investment Fund has previously declared its desire to keep its BTC rather than sell it right now.
According to information from CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is now trading at $26,722 at the time of writing. The extended payback deadline for Mt. Gox adds a new chapter to the protracted tale, but it also moves creditors one step closer to getting their money in full.