In the wake of the fifth anniversary of Mt Gox’s collapse, it is worth re-examining what happened and considering some of the key legal issues which have arisen since. Founded by technological entrepreneur Jed McCaleb and launched in July 2010, Mt Gox was a bitcoin exchange platform based in Tokyo, Japan. Prior to its collapse in 2014, Mt Gox was the largest Bitcoin trading exchange in the world, boasting over 24,700 customers globally. During it’s peak, it was estimated to have accounted for 70-80% of all Bitcoin transactions worldwide, having held around 850,000 Bitcoins, which are today worth approximately AUD$4.28B.
As the largest and earliest significant collapse of a crypto business, it is interesting to consider how the Courts and law have tried to deal with the novel issues raised by the situation.
