Crypto exchange Bitstamp is about to repay some of the early Bitcoin investors who lost their coins during the infamous Mt. Gox hack over 10 years ago.
The European exchange said Wednesday that it has received the assets from Mt. Gox representatives, and is about to begin distributing them back to users as soon as Thursday.
Bitstamp is one of five exchanges selected to dish out the Bitcoin as part of a repayment process to over 20,000 former customers of collapsed Mt. Gox. Customers will also receive other assets stolen in the hack such as Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum.
We're pleased to announce that we've received the Mt. Gox assets. We're working diligently to distribute them to our Bitstamp customers who are Mt. Gox creditors. Please allow up to one week for security checks. We'll inform you when the transfer is finalized. Thank you for your…
— Bitstamp (@Bitstamp) July 24, 2024
"We're pleased to announce that we've received the Mt. Gox assets," Bitstamp said on X/Twitter. "We're working diligently to distribute them to our Bitstamp customers who are Mt. Gox creditors."
In a separate announcement, the exchange said: "Bitstamp today received Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Ethereum (ETH) from the Mt. Gox trustees, which it will begin to distribute to Bitstamp customers from tomorrow."
It added that recipients will have full control of their assets within in a week of receipt "following the completion of security checks." The exchange added that there would be a separate distribution plan for UK residents.
Just yesterday, American crypto exchange Kraken announced that it had "successfully distributed" Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to customers. The exchange's CEO Dave Ripley said it "was our privilege and it was our duty" to return the coins. Other participating exchanges include Bitbank, SBI VC Trade, and BitGo.
Mt. Gox was a popular Japanese exchange that allowed customers to buy and sell Bitcoin. But hackers stole 850,000 of the digital coins from the platform through an ongoing exploit, and the exchange shut down in 2014 following a filing for bankruptcy.
Law enforcement managed to find and retrieve 140,000 Bitcoins from the hack years later. Former customers are only now getting back their funds under a rehabilitation proposal approved in 2021.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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