Bitcoin’s recovery stalls; Mt. Gox back from the dead?


avatar Quebex Fintech Inc.
Jun 14, 2017

Bitcoin is down again following a volatile start to the week which saw the coin top $3,000 USD each for the first time ever on Sunday evening before plummeting 12.5% on Monday.

The value of a single bitcoin currently sits at $3,479.16 CAD as of 9.30pm, ET, according to data from CoinDesk – down 3.61% in 24 hours.

Monday’s crash may have been caused by outages on two major bitcoin exchange sites; Coinbase and BTC-e both reported technical difficulties at about the same time bitcoin’s prices dropped.

Many traders voiced their displeasure over not being able to use the sites at the time to take advantage of the dip in prices on social media; both exchanges have since offered public apologies.

In other news, bitcoin’s bullish behaviour over the past six months – despite recent corrections, bitcoin is still up roughly 150% in 2017 – may be enough to breathe life into the infamous and long deceased Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange!



Mt. Gox was once the world’s primary exchange before it was forced to declare bankruptcy in 2014 while owing creditors 45 billion yen ($414 million).

Turns out, Mt. Gox’s trustee has been sitting on a stash of 202,185 bitcoins which, thanks to this year’s rallies, is now worth approximately $530 million USD – enough, in theory, to pay off its debts with over $100 million in change.

Of course, this is like owing $1 million, putting $100 in the bank, and telling creditors you'll pay them off just as soon as your interest piles up. It completely ignores losses from the opportunity cost of inaccessible funds.

The commodities trading giant DRW has offered to help the trustee liquidate its holdings, through its own bitcoin trading unit, via talks on Reddit.

However, former Mt. Gox chief executive Mark Karpeles doubts DRW’s plan would work.

“Should the trustee attempt to liquidate the coins, getting a price close to market rate sounds difficult,” he told Quartz, by direct message on Twitter.



Karpeles is awaiting trial for embezzlement on July 11 for his role in the exchange’s collapse, having already served jail-time after Japanese police arrested him in 2015.

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