Definition: Mt. Gox

(Magic: The Gathering Online EXchange) An early cryptocurrency exchange based in Japan. Named after the game "Magic: The Gathering" and launched in 2010, within a few years, Mt. Gox was the largest Bitcoin exchange. It became famous for being hacked in 2011 when 850,000 bitcoins (worth $450M at that time) were taken from the exchange's "hot" (online) wallet. Of that amount, approximately 100,000 coins were owned by Mt. Gox. Although some 200,000 bitcoins were later retrieved, Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in 2014 because it was revealed that it had previously concealed the loss. In 2022, the exchange announced it would repay users in the future and payments began slowly by the end of 2023. However, the repayment deadline was extended to October 2024. See Magic: The Gathering, Mr. Goxx, crypto exchange and crypto misfortunes.