The trustee overseeing seized MtGox funds announced that thousands of creditor claims have been processed. Kraken, the San Francisco bitcoin exchange appointed to assist the court trustee, received 9,
The trustee overseeing seized MtGox funds announced that thousands of creditor claims have been processed. Kraken, the San Francisco bitcoin exchange appointed to assist the court trustee, received 9,863 claims for bitcoin-only accounts. The exchange approved 7,952 of those claims, representing 12,583,717,791 yen, or about $110.6 million. When combined with claims for fiat currency deposits, the trustee approved total claims of 25,702,801,244 yen, approximately $225.9 million.
Trustee attorney Nobuaki Kobayashi issued the report following the latest creditors meeting. The document, written in Japanese and translated to English, detailed what funds remain. Kobayashi currently controls 1,210,107,188 yen in fiat currency and 202,163.41191816 bitcoins, worth about $10.6 million and $84.8 million at current prices. Those holdings total about $95.4 million against approved bitcoin claims of $110.6 million.
Creditors have filed claims exceeding $23 billion, while bitcoin's total market capitalization stood under $7 billion. Most claims will face denial, leaving creditors unable to recover completely. Five creditors filed claims totaling 13,119,083,453 yen, about $115.2 million, for debts unrelated to the exchange. The document does not identify which creditors these are or whether those claims were approved.
Kraken CEO Jesse Powell said the progress "will have beneficial effects for the bitcoin community globally. Kraken is proud to volunteer our resources and expertise in an attempt to minimize damage to creditors, restore faith in the bitcoin community, and demonstrate trusted leadership in the industry."
MtGox operated as the world's first centralized bitcoin exchange and dominated the market for years. The platform suffered security breaches and faced fraud allegations before halting withdrawals in late 2013 and collapsing in early 2014. Mark Karpeles, the exchange's founder, faces embezzlement charges in court and filed for bankruptcy protection in both the United States and Japan.
Former MtGox users who submitted claims through Kraken can monitor their claim status on claims.mtgox.com. Kraken announced a Series B funding round this month and acquired two American bitcoin competitors.
