What Is Mt. Gox?
Mt. Gox was a Tokyo-based cryptocurrency exchange that operated between 2010 and 2014. It was the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world at one point, handling over 70% of all Bitcoin transactions worldwide. The company declared bankruptcy in February 2014 after it lost 850,000 Bitcoins belonging to its customers and 100,000 of its own due to hacking attacks and mismanagement.
The Mt. Gox scandal is considered by many as one of the biggest financial disasters in history with an estimated loss of $450 million worth of customer funds at current prices. After filing for bankruptcy protection, Mt. Gox began liquidation proceedings which are still ongoing today as creditors attempt to recover their losses from the failed exchange’s remaining assets including 200,000 Bitcoins held by trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi who has been selling them off since 2017 on behalf of creditors.