The MTGox scandal was one which impacted the whole world of Bitcoin. The exchange lost an estimated $370 million, which was 650,000 bitcoins at the time. Now, according to a report in Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, only 1% of the bitcoin was actually taken by hackers.
The bitcoin lost, which today is estimated at $208 million, created uproar of angry mobs demanding their money back from the exchange. The exchange was reportedly hacked by thieves who were believed to have stolen the whole sum of the money. However, this latest news suggests that only 1% was taken by the hackers. So where did the rest of the money go?
Lost Savings
Well there is still no idea where the remaining 99% is but that is being investigated as around 12 million customers were swindled of their savings. The exchange started in 2013 and was quickly succeeding as it offered the new service of “real money” for Bitcoin. However what seemed calm on the outside, inside was messy, with poor management and poor security.
The exchange had 12 million customers who believed it was a good service. But 3 months after Mark Karpeles took charge of the firm it was first hacked. At that time, bitcoin was only worth $1, but as the price rose, more customers were enraged as they missed out on huge profits.
Police analyzed internet connections for transactions done on the exchange and found the Bitcoins being pooled by unknown parties and the pools weren’t customer accounts. This strengthens the idea that the Bitcoin is still out there, and the police will continue investigations in an attempt to discover where exactly the Bitcoin went, and inform the confused customers of MtGox.
The scandal also meant that many investors were put off by bitcoin at an early stage of its growth. Hopefully there will be more news on the scandal as the missing bitcoins have still not been recovered.
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