Biting the Bitcoin Bullet
Back in 2014 Mt. Gox (defunct) was a big deal, accounting for ~70% of bitcoin trading traffic, but the company was hacked and the company lost 850,00 bitcoin, which at the time was worth ~$570/BTC for a total loss of $484.5m in 2014 dollars. The company declared bankruptcy after the incident, with the loss corresponding to ~7% of all the bitcoin in circulation at the time. Last year the Tokyo District Court finalized a measure that would return the portion of the lost bitcoin that was able to be recovered to creditors, which is said to be 137,890 BTC, ~16.2% of what was stolen, but at the current price of bitcoin ($23535), the value of the recovered bitcoin is now $3.245b or 6.7x the original lost value.
So those who lost in the hack will recover what they lost and make a 570% profit, albeit having to wait 8 years to receive it, but the celebration is not felt in all quarters as the bitcoin market is concerned that the recipients of the recovered bitcoin will quickly take profits, with that volume (all) representing ~8% of the bitcoin daily volume, which would certainly have a deleterious effect on the market, even if it was for a short time. The question of how creditors will respond to the ‘windfall’ is open to speculation, although the current thinking is mixed, albeit extremely source biased, with those in the industry thinking that creditors, having taken the hit years ago would be open to speculating further by not selling, while those outside of the industry seem to be leaning more toward the side of selling after having to wait 8 years and undergoing the pain and suffering the hack likely caused. Either way t is an unusual ending to a bankruptcy and one rarely seen…
So those who lost in the hack will recover what they lost and make a 570% profit, albeit having to wait 8 years to receive it, but the celebration is not felt in all quarters as the bitcoin market is concerned that the recipients of the recovered bitcoin will quickly take profits, with that volume (all) representing ~8% of the bitcoin daily volume, which would certainly have a deleterious effect on the market, even if it was for a short time. The question of how creditors will respond to the ‘windfall’ is open to speculation, although the current thinking is mixed, albeit extremely source biased, with those in the industry thinking that creditors, having taken the hit years ago would be open to speculating further by not selling, while those outside of the industry seem to be leaning more toward the side of selling after having to wait 8 years and undergoing the pain and suffering the hack likely caused. Either way t is an unusual ending to a bankruptcy and one rarely seen…
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