150,000 bitcoins in question: Mt. Gox creditors to vote on draft compensation plan

Now defunct crypto exchange Mt Gox’s appointed trustee, Nobuaki Kobayashi, revealed that the Tokyo District Court has not found any grounds for disapproving a previously submitted draft rehabilitation plan. According to the latest update posted on 25 February, the court approved a repayment process schedule that Attorney Kobayashi proposed.

According to the schedule, the trustee will finalize some rehabilitation creditors who will get voting rights to vote on the proposed refund plan on 24 March. The voting deadline is on 8 October, after which creditors will discuss the compensation plan on 20 October.

For now, the method and timing of voting on the rehabilitation plan will be announced to creditors via MTGOX’s website. Kobayashi said that creditors will be able to vote online, by mail, or in person when they meet on 20 October. 

On 15 December, Mt. Gox trustee submitted a draft rehabilitation plan to compensate victims of the infamous exchange hacks. At the time, Tokyo District Court was planning to review the plan to determine whether to proceed with the rehabilitation.

The exchange’s bankruptcy trust is yet to distribute roughly $630 million and 150,000 BTC. What is more important is the fact that close to 24,000 victims of the hack, who are still waiting for their refund, have not been repaid yet.  

Years after Mt. Gox suffered its infamous hacks, which occurred in 2011 and later in 2014, the exchange still continues to make headlines. As of 21 September 2020, leaked documents as part of the FinCEN investigation found the involvement of traditional financial firms, including one Mayzus Financial Services,  and its connection to the Mt Gox hack. 

Earlier this year, on 6 January, crypto tracking firm Whale Alert identified a certain transaction connected to an Mt. Gox address that got people’s attention. About 450.00034 BTC worth more than $14 million at the time was moved from a Binance address to a Mt. Gox cold wallet.