Defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has started payments to rehabilitation creditors as part of its rehabilitation plan.

More than 10 years after its collapse, Mt Gox creditors are finally getting paid back.

According to a July 5 announcement, payments are being made in Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash via centralized crypto exchanges designated to handle the transactions.

However, rehabilitation creditors need to satisfy some prerequisites before receiving the payments. These include confirming the validity of their accounts and agreeing to the terms of the agreement from intermediary agencies handling the receipt of the funds.

Additionally, the Rehabilitation Trustee and designated cryptocurrency exchanges need to finish their discussions about how to handle the repayments. This ensures that both parties are aligned on the repayment process.

Several recipients have also confirmed the development on Reddit. One user confirmed receiving the exact amount that they were expecting to receive on the crypto exchange Bitbank.

“The BTC/BCC coins are already under my control,” the user wrote.

Another user shared an email received from Mt. Gox stating that their exchange had been credited via a Japan-based creditor. Mt. Gox Co., Ltd. was labeled as the Rehabilitation Debtor, and Nobuaki Kobayashi, Attorney-at-law, as the Rehabilitation Trustee.

“This transfer was made to [your exchange], which you designated as your Designated Cryptocurrency Exchange etc., on the MTGOX Online Rehabilitation Claim Filing System […] In accordance with the Rehabilitation Plan, the repayment took effect at the time the transfer was recorded on the blockchain.” the email stated.

According to some responses to the user’s post, only those who selected cryptocurrencies as a means of repayment at the time of filing their claims are receiving the repayments. 

At the time of writing, only BitBank and SBI, both Japanese cryptocurrency exchanges, had been confirmed by users as having received the repayments.

Mt. Gox was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges before filing for bankruptcy in 2014. The reason was a catastrophic security attack that led to the loss of around 650,000 BTC belonging to customers and about 100,000 of the exchange’s own. 

A compensation plan was approved by a court in 2021. The plan was supported by the majority of affected users.

This led to years of waiting before the exchange finally started paying out customers in December 2023.

The recent cryptocurrency repayments come as Bitcoin has dropped below the $55,000 mark for the first time since February. With Mt. Gox moving over 47,000 Bitcoin, the transfers have been flagged as one of the key reasons behind dwindling price pressure on the original cryptocurrency.

The price of Bitcoin has continued its descending movement, sliding under the $55,000 threshold, returning back to levels last seen in February.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) sell-off has intensified amid reports that the collapsed crypto exchange Mt. Gox moved over 47,000 BTC (worth around $2.6 billion) to a new wallet ahead of its $9 billion payout. At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin is $54,561, a mark last witnessed in February, when the largest by market capitalization cryptocurrency was surging to a new all-time high.

Following the transaction, Mt. Gox trustee officially confirmed on Jul. 5 during Friday’s Asian trading hours that the collapsed exchange “made repayments in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to some of the rehabilitation creditors.” The trustee didn’t specify though the amount of BTCs sent to creditors.

The crypto market has faced significant pressure recently, affecting both investor sentiment and miner operations following the April halving, which reduced mining rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. At Bitcoin’s current price, only five ASIC rigs from Avalon and Antminer remain profitable, according to f2pool’s X post.

⛏️With #Bitcoin trading below $58k, what is the current profitability for mining?

At a rate of $0.08/kWh, ASICs less efficient than 23 W/T operate at a loss.

For more details on mainstream miners, please refer to the table below. pic.twitter.com/hJS1lsVnmK

— f2pool 🐟 (@f2pool_official) July 4, 2024

The rapid drop below $55,000 has pressured speculators, resulting in $682 million in liquidations of both long and short positions across multiple exchanges, according to Coinglass.

Over the past 24 hours, more than 235,000 traders were liquidated, with the largest single liquidation order on Binance’s ETH/USDT trading pair valued at over $18.4 million. According to CoinGecko, the total crypto market capitalization dropped by over 8% to $2 trillion, increasing sell-offs among speculators.

As crypto.news reported earlier, TRON founder Justin Sun offered to help the industry by teasing his “willingness” to buy confiscated Bitcoins from the German government over-the-counter. It’s unclear when these negotiations will begin, but with the recent movement of Bitcoins to centralized exchanges from Germany-labeled addresses, Mt. Gox’s repayments have seemingly become the primary concern among traders.

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in Nigeria is looking to deploy research centers geared towards emerging technologies like Blockchain.

The initiative was announced by the NITDA’s Director-General, Kashifu Inuw, at the IoT West Africa Conference in Lagos. 

According to the director general, the research centers will focus on key technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), additive manufacturing, and robotics alongside blockchain tech.

The entities would be deployed across “six geo-political zones of Nigeria,” as per Inuwa.

Besides establishing these research units, the government would also aid Nigerian startups in scaling product development using these technologies. In this regard, innovation sandboxes would be leveraged to develop use cases and ultimately introduce these products to the market.

Amidst this backdrop, the NITDA has been training the nation’s populace via its 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program. By 2027, the government plans to equip three million Nigerians with the necessary skills to bolster its current initiatives.

As a broader implication, Inuwa expects a boost in foreign exchange remittances as individuals trained via these initiatives leave the country.

Shitij Taneja, managing director of Vertex Next, the organizers of the IoT West Africa conference, called Nigeria “Africa’s next Silicon Valley.” He believes that Nigeria’s large youth population and its dynamic startup ecosystem position it as a leading force.

“The reason we are hosting the IoT West Africa, which is co-located with Africa data center and cloud Expo Africa is because we see a lot of potential in the market and the growing number of youths that are working towards the development of technology.”

Taneja added that the conference also seeks to draw investors towards Nigerian startups.

Nigeria’s growing focus on emerging technologies has been quite evident over the past months. In May, the NITDA restructured the National Blockchain Policy Steering Committee (NBPSC) in a move to facilitate better implementation of its National Blockchain Policy.

The nation is also eyeing potential collaboration with the United States of America to explore the potential of AI and other emerging technologies. This is despite the nation’s recent legal tensions with the economic powerhouse involving a detained executive of crypto exchange Binance.

Per the Blockchain Industry Coordinating Committee of Nigeria (BICCoN), a blockchain advocacy group, this development could lead to fragmented relations with global partners.