(Credit: Shutterstock / Arsenii Palivoda)
Japanese Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox was an online marketplace where people could buy and sell Bitcoin. At one point, it was considered the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, but after losing 950,000 Bitcoin in 2011 due to a hack, it went bankrupt in 2014.
Many people lost a lot of money, but a decade later, some of them may get that cash back.
After the 2011 hack, the company recovered roughly 140,000 coins, which at the time wasn’t worth much. Thanks to Bitcoin’s growth, those coins are now worth an astounding $9 billion, which will be returned to many investors who lost money during the exchange’s bankruptcy.
At the time of the loss, a single Bitcoin was trading for around $600. Now, that same coin is worth $60,000. It is unknown how much investors will receive individually.
CNBC reoorts that one of the claimants in a class-action lawsuit against the company, Gregory Greene, said his account included $25,000 in frozen Bitcoin when Mt. Gox declared bankruptcy. It's now worth $2.5 million, a pretty substantial windfall.
CNBC also notes that many account holders have sold off their claims over the past decade, so the number of folks collecting now is likely smaller than in 2014.
Distributions to the site’s 20,000 creditors will begin next month and will be sent in a mixture of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.