Mt. Gox, the bankrupt Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, will begin returning creditors' Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash assets from July 2024. Following this announcement, the market reacted with Bitcoin falling below $61,000.

In a statement on June 24, Nobuaki Kobayashi, the Rehabilitation Trustee of the exchange, stated:

"The Rehabilitation Trustee will initiate repayments in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to cryptocurrency exchanges where the necessary exchange and confirmation of information have been completed for implementing the repayments."

The exchange plans to refund 142,000 BTC and 143,000 BCH to creditors, totaling over $8 billion.

Furthermore, the trustee ensured that the defunct exchange had taken precautions to ensure secure and reliable repayments to creditors. This includes technical measures for safe transactions, compliance with financial regulations in various countries, and discussions with cryptocurrency exchanges on repayment arrangements.

As a result, users of the defunct Mt. Gox platform were advised to "please wait for a while until the repayments are made."

This development marks a positive step for Mt. Gox creditors, who have awaited recovery of their assets for nearly a decade. The exchange suffered a major hack in 2014, resulting in the loss of 850,000 Bitcoin, valued at over $57 billion today. Subsequently, Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy and began rehabilitation proceedings in 2018 to compensate creditors.

Legal challenges have prolonged the process, leaving users uncertain about the fate of their funds. However, progress began last year when the exchange initiated some repayments, despite reports of certain creditors receiving duplicate payments.

Speculation about the Bitcoin repayments intensified last month when movements of assets held by the Rehabilitation Trustee were observed for the first time in five years. At that time, the trustee clarified that these transactions were preparations for creditor repayments, dispelling rumors of divesting substantial Bitcoin holdings totaling around 140,000 BTC, valued at $9 billion.