Live data from Hacker News

Mark Karpeles Will End Up Taking $859M from Mt. Gox Bankruptcy

cryptocoinsnews.com

11–20 of 72 posts

Re: Mark Karpeles Will End Up Taking $859M from Mt. Gox Bankruptcy

#11

He should get nothing until after all his victims are made whole— in bitcoin, not USD.

"creditors requested Karpeles and Mt. Gox to process refunds in Japanese yen rather than bitcoin" The people he owed money to asked for it to be this way when proceedings began.

If they had asked to be made whole in BTC instead of yen and BTC had tanked properly (becoming essentially worthless), he could have paid the reparations from his savings account. This could have gone both ways, but it feels asymmetric because you can't go more broke than bankruptcy.

Re: Mark Karpeles Will End Up Taking $859M from Mt. Gox Bankruptcy

#12
post #8

> However, after a strange turn of events, it turned out that creditors of Mt. Gox, or former bitcoin traders on the Mt. Gox exchange, requested an equivalent amount of bitcoin to be paid out in Japanese yen at the beginning of Mt. Gox liquidation proceedings. In simpler terms, creditors requested Karpeles and Mt. Gox to process refunds in Japanese yen rather than bitcoin, which has risen substantially in value since…

I guess it shows how much confidence the creditors had in bitcoin at the time.

Re: Mark Karpeles Will End Up Taking $859M from Mt. Gox Bankruptcy

#13
post #8

> However, after a strange turn of events, it turned out that creditors of Mt. Gox, or former bitcoin traders on the Mt. Gox exchange, requested an equivalent amount of bitcoin to be paid out in Japanese yen at the beginning of Mt. Gox liquidation proceedings. In simpler terms, creditors requested Karpeles and Mt. Gox to process refunds in Japanese yen rather than bitcoin, which has risen substantially in value since…

Probably seemed like a safer option if there was no legal precedent for returning cryptocurrency. Also, prices could have dropped just as easily as they went up.

Re: Mark Karpeles Will End Up Taking $859M from Mt. Gox Bankruptcy

#16

He should get nothing until after all his victims are made whole— in bitcoin, not USD.

"creditors requested Karpeles and Mt. Gox to process refunds in Japanese yen rather than bitcoin" The people he owed money to asked for it to be this way when proceedings began.

I don't recall having requested Yen at any time. There was a form to be filled out and I clearly stated that I prefer to be paid in Bitcoin. But I guess I am not big enough a fish to have a say there.

Re: Mark Karpeles Will End Up Taking $859M from Mt. Gox Bankruptcy

#17
post #3

So, what would have happened if bitcoin had crashed to $0? Creditors would have received nothing because there would have been no value left to distribute? Instead he got a free "heads I win, tails you lose" exposure to bitcoin prices?

Well no. What he owes was based on the price of Bitcoin at the time not today. he owes the same amount in yen regardless of the price of Bitcoin.

Re: Mark Karpeles Will End Up Taking $859M from Mt. Gox Bankruptcy

#18
post #3

So, what would have happened if bitcoin had crashed to $0? Creditors would have received nothing because there would have been no value left to distribute? Instead he got a free "heads I win, tails you lose" exposure to bitcoin prices?

Well no. What he owes was based on the price of Bitcoin at the time not today. he owes the same amount in yen regardless of the price of Bitcoin.

Right, but he wouldn't have had any money to pay that amount in yen if the price had crashed, no?

Re: Mark Karpeles Will End Up Taking $859M from Mt. Gox Bankruptcy

#19
post #10
post #3

So, what would have happened if bitcoin had crashed to $0? Creditors would have received nothing because there would have been no value left to distribute? Instead he got a free "heads I win, tails you lose" exposure to bitcoin prices?

That is not my problem. He denied us the opportunity to cash out, or hold. If it had dropped to 0, I would expect a cash payment.

And would he have had the cash to pay you?

Re: Mark Karpeles Will End Up Taking $859M from Mt. Gox Bankruptcy

#20
post #8

> However, after a strange turn of events, it turned out that creditors of Mt. Gox, or former bitcoin traders on the Mt. Gox exchange, requested an equivalent amount of bitcoin to be paid out in Japanese yen at the beginning of Mt. Gox liquidation proceedings. In simpler terms, creditors requested Karpeles and Mt. Gox to process refunds in Japanese yen rather than bitcoin, which has risen substantially in value since…

Because they only recovered a fraction of the bitcoin lost, so there wasn't enough bitcoin to be distributed. They wanted the equivalent price in cash, which seemed like a more obtainable goal but still at the time was greater than what could be met by selling the 200K bitcoin they recovered. Who knows, maybe they thought they could get it from insurance or something like that. Of course, now that the 200k bitcoin are worth more than the 800k lost were at the time of the hack, they want more money.
Post reply on HN