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There was a time when Mt. Gox, not Binance, stood at the pinnacle of the cryptocurrency world. In 2014, a major hacking incident resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of Bitcoins, leading to a collapse from which it could never recover. The hacker who attacked Mt. Gox siphoned off approximately 650,000 BTC from the exchange over three years, making history. It is believed that most of the stolen Bitcoins were laundered through BTC-e, a platform established by Alexander Vinnik and Aleksandr Bilyuchenko, both of whom were later convicted for crimes related to the hack.
The Mt. Gox Hack
In June 2011, cybercriminals targeted Mt. Gox, the leading Bitcoin exchange of the time founded by Jed McCaleb. Interestingly, McCaleb was also a founding partner of Ripple and later Stellar (XLM). The hackers exploited a security flaw in the exchange’s system. Using a fake account, the hackers obtained the stolen identity information of Mt. Gox official Auden McKernan and then manipulated account balances.
Another aspect of this incident involved hack attacks that were carried out through an account displaying Bitcoins for sale. This led to a crash in Bitcoin prices on the exchange. As a result of the artificial price drop created, Bitcoin prices plummeted to and traded at $0.01.
The Bitcoins were purchased by the hacker at this unbelievable price and later laundered through BTC-e. It is well known among all cryptocurrency enthusiasts that the current value of these digital currencies exceeds 3 billion dollars.
Following these events, security experts heavily criticized the Mt. Gox exchange for its weak security protocols. After this process, the exchange promised to improve its system and reimburse affected users.
While former investors are still waiting for payments, a recent Reddit post indicated that an email had been sent to investors.
Current Bitcoin Status
After all these events, the price of Bitcoin recovered and moved on from the Mt. Gox incident, reaching new highs. In November 2021, the price surged to $69,000, which was enthusiastically received by investors.
As of today, Bitcoin is still far from its peak, trading at $39,800 with a 0.50% decrease. Following the expected halving in April, the price is anticipated to reach new highs. Many analysts have made price predictions pointing to $100,000 and above.
