Mt. Gox victims to wait another year for repayments
Nobuaki Kobayashi, the trustee responsible for managing the assets of the now-defunct Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange, has announced an extension of the deadline for repaying the exchange’s creditors.
October 31, 2024 will serve as the new deadline for base repayment, early lump-sum repayment, and intermediate repayment. Having obtained the permission of the court, the business’s Japanese bankruptcy trustee pushed back the deadline from its previous October 31, 2023date, as confirmed in a letter dated September 21.
The trustee cautioned that the repayment schedule is still subject to changes depending on the prevailing circumstances, and the exact timing of repayments to individual rehabilitation creditors has not been finalized.
Kobayashi published additional explanatory materials including a notice concerning the amendment of the rehabilitation plan and acquired permissions. It also contains information on the financial situation of Mt. Gox, the income and expenditure statement, and a guide to the selection of a crypto exchange or custodian.
‘Given the time required for rehabilitation creditors to provide the necessary information, and for the Rehabilitation Trustee to confirm such information and engage in discussions and share information with banks, fund transfer service providers, and Designated Cryptocurrency Exchanges etc., involved in the repayments, the Rehabilitation Trustee will not be able to complete the repayments above by the deadline… set for October 31, 2023,” reads the letter.
Earlier in April, Mt. Gox trustee told creditors that the deadline to select a repayment method, register payee information online and indicate how they want to receive their repayments, already passed. A deadline for when creditors of the defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox can register their payment details to receive claims was extended multiple times after receiving court permission. As detailed in the last extension announcement, creditors had until April 6 to complete the ‘Selection of Repayment Method’. The original deadline for this selection and registration was scheduled for March 10.
As described in the notice, those who failed to complete the “selection and registration” process before the deadline will not be able to receive such repayments as the early lump sum. They also forfeit their rights in a portion of the cryptocurrency rehabilitation claims, bank remittance payments, or remittance through a fund transfer service provider.
Bitstamp and BitGo were appointed by Mt. Gox trustee as some of the designated crypto exchanges to assist in the repayment procedures to creditors. A creditor can choose his preferred cryptocurrency exchange and register as a user for the receipt of the relevant assets according to the repayment procedures under the rehabilitation plan.
Almost a decade after an attack forced the platform to shut down, Mt. Gox creditors were given the option to choose between bitcoin, cash or Bitcoin Cash to receive repayment. The process could make the frozen crypto assets liquid again, depending on the entitled users’ choices.
