Mt. Gox Collapse and Bitcoin Custody Failures — CustodyStress

Mt. Gox cases documented in the Bitcoin Custody Incident Archive. The exchange suspended withdrawals in February 2014 and filed for bankruptcy, making it the largest single custody failure event in Bitcoin's history by case volume.

The most frequently documented recovery path in these cases is Legal Proceedings (6 of 21 cases). 63% of determinate cases resulted in permanently blocked access.

Mt. Gox operated as the dominant Bitcoin exchange from 2010 to 2014, handling the majority of global Bitcoin trading volume at its peak. Founded by Jed McCaleb and later sold to Mark Karpelès, the exchange was headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Withdrawal problems began emerging in late 2013; the exchange halted all withdrawals in February 2014 and filed for bankruptcy in March 2014, citing the loss of approximately 850,000 BTC to theft and internal mismanagement.

Mt. Gox operated as a pure custodial exchange — holders did not control private keys. All Bitcoin was held in exchange-controlled wallets. Account balances were IOUs against exchange-held funds. The exchange used hot wallet architecture with insufficient cold storage segregation, allowing a prolonged hack to drain funds over several years without detection.

The primary failure mechanism was exchange insolvency following undisclosed theft. Holders could not access funds because the exchange no longer held sufficient Bitcoin to cover withdrawals — the custodian's failure became every depositor's custody failure simultaneously. Legal authority to recover funds required filing creditor claims in Japanese bankruptcy proceedings.

Cases in this archive represent documented individual access failures associated with the Mt. Gox collapse. The archive does not attempt to document all Mt. Gox creditors — only cases with sufficient public documentation of the custody situation and outcome. Mt. Gox creditor distributions continued for over a decade after the collapse.