It appears that the Mt. Gox saga will never come to an end as there is still a lot of unsettled business to attend to. This has become more apparent after one trustee of the bankrupt bitcoin exchange opened the doors to a potential revival of Mt. Gox, while creditors want their bitcoins.
Here are some of the major news stories coming out of Japan from the gathering of approximately 100 creditors at a Tokyo District Court on Wednesday:
Mt. Gox: Redux
Nobuaki Kobayashi, a trustee overseeing the insolvent Mt. Gox, told a group of investors Wednesday that he is looking for a company to take over the business with the possibility of reviving the troubled company. He noted that several companies have showed interest and that he will persist in going through the selection process.
Who are some of these potential suitors? One of them has come forward: BitOcean Japan, a startup headquartered in Tokyo that is looking to establish a digital currency exchange in the economic powerhouse.
“We didn’t learn much,” BitOcean Japan co-founder Daniel Kelman said about the meeting. “The only positive note was when Kobayashi said he would consider distributing bitcoins as bitcoins. He asked people to raise their hands if they wanted bitcoins back, and everyone proceeded to raise their hands, which turned into a round of applause.”
Creditors want bitcoins
A large number of creditors of the defunct exchange have threatened to intervene in the bankruptcy proceedings unless the administrator settles its debt in the peer-to-peer decentralized digital currency.
Investors say they want any bitcoins returned to them as bitcoins rather than fiat money so then they won’t lose the value amid fluctuations of the virtual currency. Also, bitcoin to traditional currency conversions would lead to 10 to 15 percent in commissions.
“As pretty much every creditor was an early adopter, we’d all like to see Bitcoin distributed as Bitcoin. As a form of payment it is overwhelmingly superior to cash,” said Daniel Kelman, a New York-qualified lawyer, according to the Financial Times.
Of course, if a settlement does transpire in virtual currency then it would be a landmark decision that could establish a tremendous precedent. However, since a majority of the 127,000 investors are non-Japanese, it would be a very difficult proceeding.
Another Mark Karpeles apology
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles took part in the meetings, and attendees say that he didn’t appease any investors as he simply just offered another apology. Karpeles told creditors that he will remain in charge of Tibanne, the parent company of Mt. Gox, and use profits to offset losses incurred by users.
I am really sorry for what happened and will do my best to make the outcome of the bankruptcy as best as possible,” Karpeles told the Wall Street Journal following the meeting. “I really hope everyone recovers what they lost and that the culprit is caught.”
