Bitcoin windfall coming for Mt. Gox creditors after decade-long wait and 10,000% price spike

Users of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox have been trying to get their money back for a decade. From the beginning of July, the company will begin paying users back their funds.

Kiyoshi Ota | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Mt. Gox, the Japanese bitcoin exchange that collapsed into bankruptcy a decade ago after a major hack, is finally set to repay creditors, who are being rewarded handsomely for their patience. 

Up to 950,000 bitcoin were lost in the 2011 hack, at a time when the cryptocurrency was trading for a tiny fraction of its current value. Some 140,000 of those coins were recovered, a haul that, at today’s prices, means that roughly $9 billion worth of bitcoin will be returned to its owners. 

Among the claimants is Illinois native Gregory Greene. Soon after the exchange declared bankruptcy in February 2014, Greene filed a class action lawsuit against Mt. Gox and its former CEO. Greene said at the time that his frozen account contained $25,000 in bitcoin, though he didn’t disclose the exact number of coins in his wallet.

Full story at CNBC.

By Ryan Browne and MacKenzie Sigalos