Mt. Gox 'Finds' 200,000 BTC in an Old Wallet
In a surprising twist, the Mt. Gox bankruptcy trustee announces that nearly 200,000 bitcoins, previously thought to be lost, have been discovered in an old, forgotten digital wallet.
During the early stages of the bankruptcy proceedings, a stunning announcement emerged from the Mt. Gox camp: approximately 200,000 BTC, worth over $115 million at the time, had been 'found.' The bitcoins were discovered in an old-format digital wallet that was thought to be empty. CEO Mark Karpelès had apparently rescanned the wallet on a whim after the bankruptcy filing and realized it still contained a substantial balance.
This discovery slightly reduced the total confirmed loss from 850,000 BTC to 650,000 BTC. While it was a positive development for the exchange's thousands of creditors, it was also a damning indictment of the company's staggering incompetence and chaotic technical management. The fact that a wallet containing over a hundred million dollars could be simply forgotten about was almost unbelievable and further underscored the reasons for the exchange's collapse.These recovered coins would become a central asset in the long and convoluted bankruptcy process, eventually being earmarked for partial distribution to the creditors who had lost their funds in the collapse.