The Mt. Gox bitcoin rehabilitation plan, which would reimburse 150,000 BTC to victims of the exchange hack has gained final approval from the trustee board. The development marks one of the final steps before the Mt. Gox saga is finally put to rest.
The rehabilitation plan for Mt. Gox has gained final approval from the trustee and has become final and binding, according to a notice published on Nov 16. The confirmation has been a long time coming, after news of a rehabilitation plan emerged in January 2021. The Trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, struck a deal with former Mt. Gox partner CoinLab to initiate the proceedings.
The draft rehabilitation plan, as it is known, was filed on Feb 15, 2021, and required creditors to vote on the plan to distribute 150,000 BTC to the victims of the infamous attack. The creditors had until October 2020 to vote in favor of the rehabilitation, which successfully went through.
Soon after the voting period ended, the Tokyo District Court confirmed the reimbursement notice just as BTC was hitting a price of $67,000. 99% of the voters supported the rehabilitation plan.
The creditors will be very pleased with the imminent windfall they are about to receive. At the time of the theft, bitcoin was trading at under $500. Many will be newly made millionaires, which is why there was such an overwhelming majority voting in favor of the rehabilitation plan.
There has been some concern that the sudden distribution of such a large amount of bitcoin to victims would result in a sell-off that could impact the market. While there’s no doubt that many of the victims will cash in, there’s no telling if it will impact the market to such a degree.
Mt. Gox saga coming to an end
With the distribution of these funds to victims, years after the attack occurred, the Mt. Gox will finally come to an end. It stands as one of the market’s most infamous incidents, severely affecting the market as a whopping 850,000 BTC was stolen. Only 200,000 have been recovered.
The incident had dealt an enormous PR blow to the crypto market, though it has evolved greatly since then. Investors and victims alike will be happy to put the whole saga behind them.
The market is very different from what it was back then, and some see the Mt. Gox incident as a growing pain. While hacks continue to occur, projects and exchanges have put much more of an emphasis on security. Some have suggested that bug bounties could be a good solution to exchange hacks.