Mt. Gox moves $953M Bitcoin after 8 months, sparking market worries

Defunct Japanese cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has made its largest Bitcoin move in eight months, even as it pushes back creditor repayments until late 2026.

The Mt. Gox-labelled cold wallet transferred 10,608 Bitcoin (BTC) worth over $953 million into a new cryptocurrency wallet, marking its first large-scale transfer in eight months.

The transfer was also the first movement above $1 million from the address since March 25, when 893 BTC worth $77.3 million were moved, according to Arkham.

Mt. Gox still holds 34,689 Bitcoin worth about $3.14 billion at the time of writing.

Mt. Gox-labelled wallet, transfers, balance history. Source: Arkham Intelligence

The transfer came as a surprise for the crypto community, as the defunct crypto exchange delayed its repayments by another year, until Oct. 31, 2026, citing incomplete creditor procedures.

“As it is desirable to make the Repayments to such rehabilitation creditors to the extent reasonably practicable, the Rehabilitation Trustee, with the permission of the court, has changed the deadline,” wrote Mt. Gox in an Oct. 27 announcement.

The delay means around $4 billion in Bitcoin will be kept off the market for another year, reducing the risk of a sudden sell-off by Mt. Gox’s defunct creditors.

Mt. Gox’s $953 million transfer raises investor concerns

Some industry watchers viewed the transfer as a concerning sign that Mt. Gox was looking to sell its holdings, potentially adding more downside pressure to the crypto market correction.

“Mt. Gox has just moved over $900M in bitcoin, likely preparing to dump it on the market,” wrote Jacob King, financial analyst and CEO at SwanDesk, in a Tuesday X post.

However, the receiving wallet, labeled “1ANkD,” has so far only held the 10,608 BTC it received. It has not sent any coins to centralized exchanges, which would be a stronger sign that a sale is imminent.

Mt. Gox was once the world’s dominant Bitcoin exchange, handling more than 70% of all BTC trades at its peak after launching in 2010.

The Tokyo-based platform collapsed in 2014 after revealing it had lost about 850,000 BTC in a security breach, in what remains one of the largest hacks in crypto history. A years-long civil rehabilitation process has since attempted to recover and distribute remaining assets to creditors, who have endured repeated delays and shifting timelines for repayment.

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