Mark Karpelès, the former CEO of defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, recently said he doesn’t want the 160,000 Bitcoin that will be left after creditors are paid.
The Japan-based Mt.Gox cryptocurrency exchange had been the largest in the world until its downfall; a February 2014 hack led to a loss of 850,000 BTC.
Karpelès explained the process of the Japanese bankruptcy law that will be giving him a billion-dollar payday in a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session, stating:
Japanese bankruptcy law has a particularly nasty outcome here, and I want to address this up front. As creditors claims were registered, those claims were registered in the valuation of Japanese Yen on the bankruptcy date. That’s the only way Japanese bankruptcy law can work (most bankruptcy laws around the world operate this way for that matter). This means that the claims can be paid back in full, and there will still be over 160,000 bitcoin and bitcoin cash in assets in the Gox estate. The way bankruptcy law works is that if there are any assets remaining after the creditors have been paid in full, then those assets are distributed to shareholders as part of the liquidation.
That’s the only way any bankruptcy law can reasonably work. And yet, in this case, it produces an egregiously distasteful outcome in that the shareholders of MtGox would walk away with the value of over 160,000 bitcoin as a result of what happened.
I don’t want this. I don’t want this billion dollars. From day one I never expected to receive anything from this bankruptcy. The fact that today this is a possibility is an aberration and I believe it is my responsibility to make sure it doesn’t happen. One of the ways to do this would be civil rehabilitation, and as it seems most creditors agree with this, I am doing my best to help make it happen. I do not want to become instantly rich. I do not ask for forgiveness. I just want to see this end as soon as possible with everyone receiving their share of what they had on MtGox so everyone, myself included, can get some closure.
Under Japanese bankruptcy laws, most of the money received will go to Mt. Gox’s shareholders, the largest being Karpelès company Tibanne, which owns 88%.
Criticism of Karpelès and the board of trustees has surrounded the refund process used to reimburse creditors who claimed losses in the 2014 hack. The volume of selloffs was so large that some have speculated the sales unfairly influenced Bitcoin prices across the world.
Coin Telegraph reported on a statement released by the trustee in charge Mt. Gox estate, Nobuaki Kobayashi, he said:
“Please refrain from analyzing the correlation between the sale of BTC and BCC (BCH) by us and the market prices of BTC and BCC (BCH) based on the assumption that the sale was made at the time the BTC and BCC (BCH) were transferred from BTC/BCC (BCH) addresses that I manage, as such assumption is incorrect.”
The estate currently holds 166,3444 BTC. The sell-offs took place between December 2017 and February 2018. During that timespan, BTC has seen highs of 20,000 and lows of 5,900.
Even though the sell-off of 35,841 BTC in a three month period may not have been the sole cause of the recent market crash. Kobayashi’s move may have triggered a market trend that influenced other investors buying and selling positions.
Although the Reddit post lacked specific details, based on the last few months the process to pay back creditors is underway.
