Crypto Privacy Services are on the Decline with LocalMonero Closing
After 7 years of operations serving the XMR community Monero’s version of LocalBitcoins announced that it is closing.
Mt. Gox is taking steps to make repayments to creditors and investors who took a massive loss after the major hack. The now-defunct exchange has reportedly been in touch with creditors to confirm their identities and clarify their account’s existence at the time of the attack.
Emails to many Mt. Gox creditors were sent, asking them to verify their identity linked to the account to repay the Bitcoin ($BTC) and Bitcoin Cash ($BCH) they lost.
MtGOX BTC distribution is expected to hit the market over the next 2 months, 200K BTC unlock.
This is in addition to 600K + GBTC repricing.
2024 April halving will reduce annual supply by 160k.
Interesting supply dynamics in play in coming months. pic.twitter.com/0ZNC52YbAH
— Mindao (@mindaoyang) January 23, 2024
A recount of the email was posted on Mt. Gox’s insolvency subreddit early this week. The message notes that the user has confirmed ownership of the account and completion of the identity verification from the exchange’s Trustee. The email also states that the user will receive their repayment in Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash:
“Please note that you may not be able to receive repayment in BTC/BCH if your account is disabled or frozen in the future.”
What Happened to Mt. Gox?
Mt. Gox was launched as one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges, and saw around 70% of all Bitcoin transactions. It faced an attack in 2014, which saw the loss of 850,000 BTC (valued at $450 million at the time of the attack and more than $33 billion today). The attack was the result of several security vulnerabilities in the systems of the exchange, allowing an attacker to breach the exchange and plunder users’ funds. The incident rattled the market and led to years of legal battles to determine responsibilty and repayments. Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in February 2014.
Since then, the exchange’s CEO, Mark Karpeles, was slapped with several criminal charges in Japan for embezzlement and falsifying financial records.