Fortress Intensifies Bid to Purchase Mt. Gox Creditors’ Claims 

The Fortress Investment Group is upping its attempt to bring a resolution to the case of hacked cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox. The firm, which has been trying for a while now to purchase claims made by the exchange’s creditors, is now raising its bid to 88 percent of the current estimated account value, according to a report from Bloomberg. 

As the report explained, the hedge fund is increasing its bid to purchase the claims, with its bid starting at $1,300 per Bitcoin. The firm is planning to purchase these claims and settle Mt Gox’s creditors. Afterwhich, it would work to recover the Bitcoins lost in the hack and turn a profit from there. 

A Long Road to Get Here

Mt. Gox was hacked back in 2014, losing about $480 million as a result of the entire incident. Although the firm had tried to recover the assets lost, it didn’t make much in terms of headway and eventually filed for bankruptcy that same year. However, despite the firm’s bankruptcy filing, there was still the problem of paying off creditors and settling their claims. 

Fortress inserted itself into the conversation in July 2019, when company executive Michael Hourigan sent a letter to creditors detailing the firm’s intention to purchase their claims. At the time, the letter confirmed that the firm was working on buying the claims at double the value of the Bitcoins lost due to the hack. Bitcoin was valued at about $451 when the hack occurred, and Fortress was offering a buyout at $900 per BTC. 

The proposal was rejected, and in December, Fortress got back with a reduced offer- $788 per BTC. After the second round of rejections, the firm is now hoping that the third time will indeed be the charm. It’s unclear whether or not the exchange’s creditors will be moved to accept this new offer, but it will most likely be Fortress’s last attempt to buy their claims. For what it’s worth, $1,300 definitely seems like a generous price. 

The Struggle for Security Rages On

Mt. Gox hack will most likely go down as one of the largest and most significant in the history of the crypto space. The exchange held about 850,000 BTC tokens, which was about 7 percent of the total number of Bitcoins in circulation. 

It is also rumored that the Bitcoin price took a 36 percent hit within a month after the hack because it spooked many in the space and forced them to reconsider whether Bitcoin was a viable currency. It’s worth pointing out that this was a time when Bitcoin was in an even more nascent stage, so it had to have been very devastating. 

Thankfully, of course, the market has been able to rebound well over the years, and exchanges have been able to improve their security infrastructure. The sad thing, however, is that criminals have been able to improve as well. 2019 saw some high-profile exchange hacks, and even at that, several forms of criminal activity have also been able to thrive. For the industry, it’s a race to keep improving on security.