Kraken, one of the world's leading cryptocurrency exchanges, has announced that some Mt. Gox creditors could be getting their long-lost Bitcoin back in the next two weeks. 

That's right, after more than a decade of waiting, hoping, and probably a fair bit of cursing, some of the victims of the infamous Mt. Gox hack might finally be seeing some digital gold.

Let's break down this crypto cliffhanger:

  • Kraken says it's received Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash from the Mt. Gox trustee;
  • They're planning to distribute these funds to creditors in the next 7–14 days;
  • This comes more than 10 years after Mt. Gox lost 850,000 Bitcoin;
  • The exact amount to be repaid is still a mystery, but it's likely less than the full 850,000 BTC;
  • Other exchanges, like Bitstamp, are also involved in on the repayment action.

For those of you who might have been living under a non-fungible rock, let's rewind a bit. Mt. Gox was once the biggest Bitcoin exchange in the world—these guys handled about 70% of all Bitcoin transactions. 

But in 2014, it suddenly collapsed after losing 850,000 bitcoins to hackers. At the time, that was worth about $450 million. That’s a sweet $54 billion in today’s market.

Since then, it has been one slow-motion train wreck after another. Most users have even lost hope of getting back their life savings—but now, it seems we might be approaching the end of the ride.

There’s been some tweet going round Twitter/X lately about a potential repayment. And Kraken just confirmed them to be true.

The best part? Bitstamp, another major player in the crypto exchange game, is also helping with the payouts.

But while Kraken was preparing to play Santa Claus, Mt. Gox decided to play Godzilla with the crypto markets. According to Arkham Intelligence, Mt. Gox's cold wallet transferred 48,641 BTC, valued at a jaw-dropping $3.07 billion, to a new address.

And that's not all. Earlier in the day, Mt. Gox moved 43,114.4 BTC, worth $2.73 billion, split between two addresses. In total, we're talking about 95,869.97 BTC moved to two separate addresses, with a combined value of $6.06 billion.

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Source: Arkham Intelligence

The impact on the market? Well, you know how these things go. Before Mt. Gox decided to play Bitcoin Jenga, the price of BTC had been on a nice little 3.48% upswing, reaching $64,699.51. 

But after the transfers, the price retreated to $63,154.02, leaving Bitcoin with a measly 0.81% 24-hour growth.

Back to potential disbursement, you might be thinking, "Great! Everyone's getting their Bitcoin back." 

Well, not so fast. The exact amount to be repaid is still unknown, but it's unlikely to be the full 850,000 bitcoins that were lost. But at least they get something back, right?

Related: Mt. Gox Finally Begins Bitcoin (BTC) And Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Repayments

Now, the question on everyone's mind is: what happens when these creditors finally get their hands on their Bitcoin?

Will we see a potential sell off? Kind of like what Germany did with their bitcoins last week? After all, they’ve been waiting for years.

Then again, we may never know till Kraken starts disbursing these funds.

In the meantime, here's a fun fact to chew on: these transfers and Kraken's email are happening exactly 14 years to the day after Mt. Gox completed its first ever trade. Talk about coming full circle, eh?

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