- The deadline for former Mt. Gox users to vote on the rehabilitation plan is today
- Any non-votes will be counted as no votes, meaning that every vote is crucial
- The Mt. Gox rehabilitation plan has been a long and drawn out affair
Mt. Gox claimants have until today to vote on the rehabilitation plan proposed in January or risk the entire enterprise being scuppered. Following years of painstaking efforts, Mt. Gox trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi finally gained permission 10 months ago to put a rehabilitation plan to the 24,000 creditors of the exchange, which collapsed in 2014 under the burden of a ₿850,000 hack. The plan is to be voted on by the creditors, with a majority required for it to gain approval. However, a large number of no votes or even non-votes could see the deal fall apart.
Today is Friday here in Japan, deadline for voting in the #MtGox civil rehabilitation.
If you haven’t voted yet do it now, Friday in Japan happens faster than in the US because of timezones, by the time Friday starts in US time it’ll be too late.— Mark Karpelès (@MagicalTux) October 7, 2021
Mt. Gox Users Closer Than Ever to Payout
Mt. Gox was famously shuttered in 2014 following years of undetected bitcoin thefts from the exchange, leaving its 24,000 customers nursing lost bitcoin and its contractors out of pocket. Some ₿250,000 was found in the possession of then CEO Mark Karpelès, which is being used to refund creditors. Some has been sold, but the vast majority remains in its cryptocurrency form, alongside the forked Bitcoin Cash coins from 2017.
After multiple attempts since being made trustee in mid-2014, Kobayashi was finally able to get a potential resolution past some of the biggest creditors and onto the 24,000 smaller ones, with a deadline of October 8, 2021 given as the time by which all creditors should cast their vote whether to accept or reject the resolution. Under the plans, the creditors will be in line for 90% of the cryptocurrency and cash in Kobayashi’s possession, although this will represent a marked reduction compared to their actual holdings.
Non-votes Count as ‘No’ Votes
The sticking point, as Karpelès and Adam Back reminded Twitter this week, is that any non-votes will be counted as no votes, increasing the likelihood that the 50% threshold might not be passed. However, even given the fact that some former customers will have passed away since 2014 or may not be able to vote for other reasons, there will surely be enough of a majority to finally see the vote over the threshold and get the Mt. Gox bitcoin back to its rightful holders.
