Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi has finally sent a proposed recovery proposal to the Japanese court—meaning past users of the long-standing crypto exchange may now be looking forward to obtaining reimbursement someday.
Kobayashi, a Japanese bankruptcy lawyer chosen to manage the repayment of holders, sent the proposal to the Tokyo District Court on 15 December.
In a comment reported on the website of Mt. Gox, Kobayashi said:
The Tokyo District Court and an examiner will review the draft rehabilitation plan and determine whether to proceed with the rehabilitation proceedings relevant to the draft rehabilitation plan.
The rehabilitation trustee added that he plans to clarify the draft proposal to the various parties in a timely and effective way.
Kobayashi is estimated to possess 150,000 bitcoins (BTCs)—around $2.9 billion at current market prices—in refund money, although no one has yet been charged.
More than 20,000 victims are estimated to have submitted requests for compensation.
Mt. Gox crashed in 2014 when more than 850,000 BTCs (at the point worth more than $470 million and currently around $16.5 billion) were reportedly stolen by hackers, with 200,000 bitcoins retrieved two weeks later.
At the time of its collapse, the exchange was the first in the world to manage 70% of global bitcoin transactions.
Since then, the intention has been to compensate the creditors with the retrieved bitcoin.
Kobayashi has been in charge since 2018 when he was appointed to do so by the court.
Countless times, the trustee demanded more time from the court before presenting his draft recovery proposal, claiming that "there are issues that require closer examination."
Now that the draft proposal has finally been sent to the court, past consumers of Mt. Gox will look forward to completing their six-year wait for a refund.
