In a significant development, the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has transferred approximately 12,000 Bitcoin, valued at $709.4 million, to an unidentified wallet. The transaction, which occurred at 11:39 pm UTC on August 20, marks the first major movement of Bitcoin by Mt. Gox since the end of July.

The transfer was made to a new, empty wallet address starting with "1PuQB." Additionally, Mt. Gox sent 1,265 BTC, worth $74.8 million, to another address labeled as a Mt. Gox cold wallet by Arkham Intelligence. These funds have not moved since the transfer.

This activity has sparked speculation that Mt. Gox may be preparing to distribute more Bitcoin to its creditors, who have been waiting for the return of their crypto assets since the exchange's collapse following a hack in 2014.

However, not everyone is convinced. Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, suggests that only a small portion of the funds—$74.5 million—is likely intended for distribution. He believes the majority is being moved into "fresh cold storage" still controlled by the Mt. Gox estate.

This recent transfer follows the last significant movement of Bitcoin from Mt. Gox on July 30, when 47,229 BTC was moved to three unknown wallets over a three-hour span. Arkham Intelligence had speculated that 33,105 Bitcoin from that transaction was sent to a wallet owned by crypto exchange BitGo, a custodian working with the Mt. Gox Trustee to return funds to creditors.

As of now, around 68% of Mt. Gox’s funds have been returned to creditors, according to data from CryptoQuant. The exchange still holds a substantial amount of Bitcoin—46,164 BTC worth approximately $2.7 billion.

Interestingly, many creditors appear to be holding onto their reacquired Bitcoin, defying expectations. Lukas Enzersdorfer-Konrad, deputy CEO of Bitpanda, noted that Mt. Gox users were among the earliest adopters of Bitcoin. "For them, Bitcoin isn’t just an asset, it’s a technology and an idea that they really believe in," he said.

Maria Carola, CEO of cryptocurrency exchange StealthEX, echoed this sentiment, explaining that creditors are likely holding onto their coins due to "expectations of future price appreciation, aiming for potentially higher returns." She added that immediate liquidation could result in significant capital gains taxes, while holding could allow investors to "delay these taxes or await more favorable market conditions."