Mt. Gox’s court-appointed rehabilitation trustee has postponed the defunct exchange’s creditor repayments, moving the deadline to October 31, 2026.

Rehabilitation trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi wrote that many creditors still haven’t received their repayments because they “have not completed the necessary procedures,” while others faced issues during the process.

The change was formally approved by a Tokyo court and announced in a notice published Monday.

Kobayashi said most base and early repayments were already completed for verified creditors, but many others remain unpaid in what has so far been one of the most drawn-out efforts at restitution in crypto history.

Around 19,500 creditors have received funds so far, while pending cases prompted the year-long extension. Arkham data shows Mt. Gox still holds about 34,689 BTC, worth nearly $4 billion at current prices.

Decrypt has reached out to Kobayashi and representatives for Mt. Gox for comment and will update this article should they respond.

The latest delay extends a repayment process already years behind schedule.

Mt. Gox, once the largest Bitcoin exchange, has pushed back repayment deadlines several times since its collapse in 2014 and the rehabilitation proceedings that followed. Despite partial distributions through registered exchanges, most creditors are still waiting to recover funds lost in the theft of roughly 850,000 BTC.

Efforts to recover the lost amount were set in motion back in 2021, when the Tokyo District Court approved Mt. Gox’s civil rehabilitation plan allowing creditors to recover a portion of the exchange’s remaining assets. That decision cleared the way for the return of roughly $9 billion in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash to an estimated 24,000 creditors, formally ending seven years of bankruptcy proceedings.

In September 2023, the rehabilitation trustee extended the repayment deadline by a year, moving it from October 2023 to October 2024 as it cited delays in verifying creditor information and coordinating with exchanges. That announcement marked the first major deferral since the court-approved rehabilitation plan was set in 2021.

Between late June and early July 2024, Mt. Gox trustees published a notice that repayments would start in early July. This triggered a sharp selloff, with Bitcoin sliding toward $61,000, ETF flows turning negative, and liquidations spiking.

By October 2024, the trustee extended the deadline again. Bitcoin received a brief boost following the announcement, as the delay was seen easing near-term sell pressure by keeping potential supply off the market.

Late last year, a $2.8 billion transfer from a wallet linked to Mt. Gox barely moved markets, with traders largely dismissing it as an internal transaction. The muted reaction reflected how much deeper and more liquid Bitcoin markets have become over the years.

When the distributions kick off in earnest, a “shock dump” is unlikely, Callan Sarre, co-founder and chief product officer of Threshold Labs, told Decrypt. “By the time distributions actually begin, a major sell-off is unlikely to surprise the market,” he said. “Sophisticated creditors have had years to hedge or arrange OTC exits, and today’s market depth can comfortably digest the remainder. The first tranche could generate headlines if transfers hit exchanges in size, but subsequent waves will likely be digested as liquidity providers pre-position.”