Even though Mt. Gox declared bankruptcy all the way back in 2014, the defunct Bitcoin exchange is still making headlines today. Even while people are still trying to track down hundreds of thousands of Bitcoin that went missing from Mt. Gox, the company is now shifting its attention towards NFTs.
Of course, people may understandably hesitate to buy anything from this organization after its many controversies – which is exactly why they are giving these tokens out for free. Now, certain Mt. Gox users can get an official Mt. Gox NFT without paying a dime.
Well, at least it’s something… but we’re pretty sure that anyone who experienced losses due to this exchange would much rather get their money back.
Mt. Gox NFTs Explained
In a Twitter announcement dated March 28th, former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès promised that anyone who used the platform between 2010 and 2014 would receive a free Mt. Gox NFT. This period was when Mt. Gox struggled immensely with cyberattacks and financial issues that eventually led to bankruptcy. These NFTs will be issued on the Polygon blockchain, and may give users access to additional benefits at some point in the future.
While some of these benefits are vague, Karpelès has promised that these NFTs will give users access to a new project called UNGOX. This aims to be the first comprehensive rating agency for cryptocurrency exchanges around the world. While this site has yet to actually launch, those with Mt. Gox NFTs will be the first to gain free lifetime access.
To sum it up, these NFTs represent an effort to compensate those who have lost considerable sums of money after trading on Mt. Gox. The effort is in no way connected to the company itself, and is apparently “100% self-funded.” But are these NFTs actually worth anything? That remains to be seen, and it is unknown whether anyone will actually want to purchase them on the secondary sales market.
What Exactly Happened With Mt. Gox?
If you’re a relatively new arrival to the crypto scene, you might be completely unaware of Mt. Gox. The company actually started to encounter issues more than seven years ago, so it’s been a while since this organization has been on anyone’s radar. So what exactly went wrong with Mt. Gox? In short, everything went wrong.
Launched in 2010, the company was handling 70% of all BTC transactions at one point and was the largest bitcoin intermediary and exchange on the planet. Only four years later, the company nosedived into oblivion after losing 850,000 bitcoin. Today, this would be the equivalent of $40 billion. 200,000 bitcoin were eventually recovered, but the vast majority of the lost assets are still unaccounted for. This inevitably led to a lot of Mt. Gox customers losing a lot of money.
