Global digital asset exchange Kraken today shared major news from Tokyo’s court-appointed trustee in the investigation of claims from MtGox creditors. During a scheduled and long-awaited Creditor’s Meeting in Tokyo, Trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi announced today that 24,750 creditors have filed claims to date. The total amount claimed to date was 263,519,268,303,371 JPY, or approximately $2,411,412,137,427 USD, though a single, individual, approximately 260 trillion yen claim is likely to be denied.
Overall, the amount of bitcoin held by the MtGox estate is approximately 202,185 XBT, or $91,185,435 USD at today’s bitcoin price of approximately $451, which Kraken will help to distribute. Tokyo based MtGox went bankrupt in February of 2014, and at the time was the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world. In a groundbreaking legislative move today, the Japanese legislature passed an updated bill required all digital currency exchanges to be registered and monitored by the Japan FSA.
In a major and long-awaited development, on May 25, 2016, the Trustee announced that all claims to date have been reviewed and that the status of all claims has been determined. Thousands of claimants will, for the first time, soon be able to learn the status of their claim. At that time, claimants will be directed to visit the MtGox website at https://claims.mtgox.com. Claim status information will not be provided by Kraken support.
Trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi said:
“My office and my partners on the Kraken team worldwide are proud to report outstanding news to thousands of MtGox creditors. During our thorough bankruptcy investigation, we have carefully reviewed over 24,000 individual claims and made individual determinations on their validity. In the near future, claimants will be able to browse the MtGox claims website to confirm their status. While the detailed schedule will inevitably be affected by each creditor’s response, we wish to proceed to the distribution process as soon as possible.”
Multiple investigations are still ongoing, the Trustee reported in a press release. The Trustee is cooperating with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in its ongoing criminal investigation of Mark Karpeles. In addition, Kraken, Deloitte, and ReEx Accounting Firm are currently investigating the possibility of whether bitcoin or other currencies disappeared at MtGox. Details and results of these investigations are currently unavailable.
In addition, the Trustee today shared that on May 11, 2016, his office determined that bitcoin addresses from the MtGox records would not be disclosed to the general public. This determination was reached on advice of partner company Kraken, who warned that such records, given the transparency of the Bitcoin blockchain, could expose the personal and private financial information of the MtGox clients.
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell said:
“Kraken is honored to provide support to the Trustee on behalf of the community and Mt.Gox clients. We are pleased by today’s announcement and the progress that has been made toward returning clients’ assets. We’ll continue to offer our assistance wherever possible and I look forward a speedy resolution from here.”