After four years, Mt. Gox creditors are beginning to file claims to recover their lost funds. On Aug. 23, Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi released an online submission process for creditors to prove their claims.
Mt. Gox Civil Rehabilitation Initiates
Hacked cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has begun accepting claims for creditors to request lost funds, according to a document released by Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi.
The online submission form outlines the methods creditors can take to prove their claim against Mt. Gox.
“The three following methods are available to file proofs of Exchange-Related Rehabilitation Claim: (1) A method in which a system on which, among others, proofs of rehabilitation claim can be filed for Exchange-Related Rehabilitation Claim (the “System”) is used to file proofs of Exchange-Related Rehabilitation Claim (the “Online Method”)…”
The document also states that creditors have until Oct. 22 to submit a filing. Warning of late submissions, Kobayashi said:
“If proof of claim is not filed by the deadline, then disenfranchisement (i.e., loss of the right to claim) might apply, so please be careful.”
To expand accessibility for claims, the document further states that those that can’t view their Mt. Gox account can send proof of entitlement to a postal address listed by Kobayashi. Currently, corporate client claims can only be filed by post as well.
The news follows a revision to the creditors’ basic policy for civil rehabilitation earlier this month.
Creditors to Be Paid in BTC and BCH
On Aug. 1, Mt. Gox creditors released a revised basic policy for their Bitcoin (BTC) repayments following the Tokyo District Court’s ruling to order civil rehabilitation in June.
Lawyers representing Mt. Gox creditors released an initial proposal for rehabilitation proceedings on June 29, 2018. The policy stated that all Mt.Gox assets would be distributed to creditors and “full payment to the monetary creditors will be made.”
Creditors who deposited Bitcoin would be repaid in BTC and BCH, instead of cash. However, the policy also mentioned that Mt. Gox does not have enough BTC to return all Bitcoin deposited by creditors.
“Mt. Gox is not capable of returning all BTC deposited by creditors. Accordingly, we consider that all assets of Mt.Gox should be distributed to creditors and not to shareholders.”
In the revised policy update, lawyers representing Mt. Gox creditors stated that “BTC and BCH be sent to exchanges in which many creditors have accounts or can open accounts easily.”
The revised policy further states that all assets currently held by Mt. Gox, including 166,000 BTC and 168,000 BCH, be paid to creditors immediately following the procedure’s approval.
Creditors who deposited cryptocurrencies other than BTC will be repaid in cash, due to the volatility of altcoins and the security risks involved with transferring assets from wallet to wallet.
Currently, the aforementioned assets are worth approximately $1.3 billion, according to data by CryptoSlate.
The plan’s decision will be released at the next court date, which is currently scheduled for May or June 2019. If approved, the initial repayments to creditors will be made shortly after.
