The search for missing bitcoins and other MtGox assets continues, and creditors are unlikely to see any compensation until at least next year.
The Bitcoin Exchange , once by far the world's largest, declared bankruptcy in February last year when it reported the disappearance of 850,000 bitcoins, worth over $450 million at the time. Roughly 200,000 of these bitcoins were subsequently "discovered". These, along with other assets being sought for recovery by bankruptcy trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi, constitute what remains for creditors thus far.
Today was the fourth creditors' meeting. In a written communication to creditors, Kobayashi indicated that much remains to be solved before any distribution takes place. He writes:
"September 9, 2015 was the date set for the investigation of claims. However, as stated in 3. below, as I am still investigating whether or not the BTC and currencies disappeared and if they have, the background behind such disappearance, as well as the accurate balance of the account held by each user of the MtGox exchange, I have neither approved nor disapproved any of the bankruptcy claims yet. Therefore, I decided to extend the date for the investigation of the claims filed by the exchange-user creditors to the date of the next creditors’ meeting."
This meeting will be held at the Tokyo District Court on February 17, 2016- nearly two years after the collapse. Costs arising out of the ongoing proceedings are gradually eating away at the assets remaining for investors, but it is hoped that more will be discovered along the way.
Since April 24, ¥1,616,258,323 ($13.4 million) has been recovered. Total expenditures have been ¥374,189,948 ($3.1 million).
Kobayashi is also pursuing the business entities of former CEO Mark Karpeles, part of Tibanne Co, MtGox's parent company. He is also after the personal assets of Karpeles himself, who was recently arrested on suspicion of faking account balances and stealing client funds.
Along with local police, Kobayashi continues to investigate the coins' disappearance. He has hired Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu LLC and ReEx Accounting Firm to assist in the search, as well as Payward, operator of the Kraken exchange chosen to assist with the claims and distribution process.
