FORK PROJECT / No.4
INCIDENT CLOSED · FEB 28, 2014
▲ CRITICAL · EXCHANGE FAILURE · TOKYO, JAPAN
Mt.Gox
is Gone.
850,000 Bitcoin vanished. The world's largest exchange went silent.
It was not a hack. It was years of silence catching up.
BTC Lost
850K
744K customer + 100K company
USD Value · 2014
$473M
at ~$557 per BTC
USD Value · 2025
$85B+
at ~$100,000 per BTC
Market Share
70%
of all BTC trades in 2013
BTC/USD PRICE · MT.GOX · 2013–2014
JAN 2013
APR
JUL
OCT
▲ $1,147
FEB 2014
HALT →
// INCIDENT TIMELINE
2010
JUL
EXCHANGE FOUNDED
Jed McCaleb launches Mt. Gox — originally a Magic: The Gathering card trading site. Sold to Mark Karpelès in 2011.
2013
NOV
PEAK — $1,147 / BTC
Mt. Gox handles 70% of global BTC volume. The price peaks at all-time high. Withdrawal delays begin quietly.
$1,147
2014
FEB 07
ALL WITHDRAWALS HALTED
"Technical issues" cited. BTC price on Mt. Gox diverges sharply from other exchanges. Panic begins.
2014
FEB 24
WEBSITE GOES DARK
mtgox.com replaced with blank page. Internal document "Crisis Strategy Draft" leaks — 744,408 BTC missing.
− 744,408 BTC
2014
FEB 28
BANKRUPTCY FILED · TOKYO
Mark Karpelès files for bankruptcy protection. 850,000 BTC confirmed lost. 127,000 later "found" in cold wallet.
TOTAL LOSS: $473,000,000
2024
JUL
CREDITOR REPAYMENT BEGINS
After 10 years, Mt. Gox trustee begins distributing ~142,000 BTC to creditors — now worth billions.
Mt. Gox did not die in a day. It died in slow silence — transaction malleability exploited for years, internal controls absent, audits never conducted. When the doors finally closed on February 28, 2014, 850,000 Bitcoin had already been gone for a long time. The exchange that once was Bitcoin to the world became its greatest cautionary tale.