A little more than three years have passed since the single biggest setback in the history of Bitcoin has occurred. MtGox, a Japanese exchange has filed for bankruptcy under suspicious circumstances claiming that it was hacked off 850,000 Bitcoins. Later in 2015, CEO of MtGox Mark Karpeles was arrested by Japanese police and was charged with embezzlement. While the hackings are still unresolved, the fate of the creditors of the now defunct exchange took a turn for better last week:
Sale of MtGox Claims:
“Mygoxclaim” is the name of the website that was setup by MtGox creditors to connect claimants with buyers. Created in the first week of February 2017, the website serves as an information portal and acts as a liaison to help anyone’s claim in the MtGox bankruptcy. According to Financial times, Daniel Kelman who worked to set up the site, is an attorney representing creditor interest in the case and is a creditor himself. The website stated:
“We’re in touch with third parties who are interested in purchasing claims and can help broker a deal. Purchasers are interested in claims above $10,000 USD in value, but every claim will be considered.”
The creditors struggle:
Long before the exchange declared bankruptcy, MtGox stopped withdrawals from the exchange for its customers. This uncertainty that brewed up resulted in Bitcoin price falling very sharply. The exchange reported that on a final tally around 850,000 Bitcoins were missing. On thorough investigation in coordination with ‘Kraken’ another bitcoin exchange brought in by the Japanese court, it was found that the amount held by MtGox is approximately 202,185 bitcoins. Kraken has confirmed that 24,750 creditors had filed claims for their lost Bitcoin or Fiat Cash.
Sale of the Claims:
Selling the Claims for a sum of money is a very interesting concept and has gained quick traction in the fintech industry. According to Financial Times, atleast four hedge funds located in United States and Japan are interested in buying the claims. Claim holders can now sell their claims and receive 15 percent of the yen value of each claim in cash. There are 5 other legal disputes pertaining to MtGox which have to be settled before settling the claimants. This will indeed take a good amount of time till this gets settled. Hence people are considering to opt out of their claims in order to get to quick cash through the website.
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