[HN Gopher] Bitcoin windfall for Mt. Gox creditors after 10 year...
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       Bitcoin windfall for Mt. Gox creditors after 10 year wait
        
       Author : pseudolus
       Score  : 74 points
       Date   : 2024-06-29 14:34 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.cnbc.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.cnbc.com)
        
       | elintknower wrote:
       | Is there any way to identify if I'm a creditor with the email I
       | registered with years ago?
        
         | toomuchtodo wrote:
         | https://claims.mtgox.com/faq
        
         | Lambdanaut wrote:
         | It is far far too late to get paid. Several deadlines have
         | passed.
        
           | caesil wrote:
           | Wrong. Look at Self-Approved Claims here:
           | https://claims.mtgox.com/faq
        
             | IanCal wrote:
             | Doesn't that page say the deadline for those claims was in
             | 2019 (not even to be submitted, but to contest it if you're
             | refused)?
        
         | timvdalen wrote:
         | I received some letters in Japanese 10 years ago saying I was
         | part of it, but I haven't really heard anything since
        
       | yieldcrv wrote:
       | its amazing that the American system is resolving FTX almost
       | within 2 years, in comparison to the Japanese system
       | 
       | says a lot about the two economies and their entire ethos
        
         | k4rli wrote:
         | Meaningless comparison, crypto has grown a lot since 2013
        
           | yieldcrv wrote:
           | The Japanese system hasn't and Mt Gox's bankruptcy trustee
           | issues have almost nothing to do with the presence of crypto
           | and more to do with the presence of grifters taking advantage
           | of the idea that something to do with crypto makes it
           | administratively complicated
           | 
           | when it really makes it simpler
        
         | SpicyLemonZest wrote:
         | It should be noted that the American system also does not give
         | FTX creditors this kind of windfall - under US bankruptcy law,
         | their claims were effectively converted to dollars at the time
         | of the bankruptcy, and they see no benefit from increased
         | crypto prices since then. I'd assume this simplifies
         | administration a lot, contributing to a faster resolution, but
         | many FTX creditors are unhappy about it:
         | https://www.wired.com/story/ftx-creditors-crypto-payout-reje...
        
           | wmf wrote:
           | It's weird that people who had dollars on FTX can get 118%
           | back but crypto "has to" take a massive haircut.
        
             | FireBeyond wrote:
             | Generally, you're not entitled to potential losses as a
             | bankruptcy creditor.
             | 
             | Those creditors were welcome to sue the entity in
             | bankruptcy for their potential losses, but that would
             | involve demonstrating they'd have had the wherewithal to
             | hold to the point of the gains they're claiming.
             | 
             | I do think that FTX creditors should not have profited out
             | of the bankruptcy proceedings, either.
        
           | Lerc wrote:
           | This is what initially happened with MTGox as well. The
           | subsequent increase in value complicating things is a large
           | part of why the MTGox resolution has taken so long. The
           | original plan to reimburse the yen value of claims at the
           | time of collapse was no longer a fair solution. The payout
           | due now was proposed and voted on by the claimants. The
           | process has been slow but very methodical, at each stage
           | there were long periods where they gave claimants time to
           | respond.
           | 
           | I, for one, would not like to be in charge of pressing the
           | button that distributes several billions of dollars to
           | thousands of different people without it fucking up. If
           | someone is doing that this July you would hope that they have
           | dotted all their Is and crossed all their Ts.
        
         | DennisP wrote:
         | Part of the problem was the lawsuit from CoinLab, which took
         | years to resolve. There wasn't anything like that with FTX.
        
           | yieldcrv wrote:
           | Part of it.
        
       | Lambdanaut wrote:
       | Granted, individuals will only receive ~15% of their original
       | claim, the increase in value over time will make it worth it for
       | many.
        
         | panarky wrote:
         | People lose their shirts in crypto because they lose it, trade
         | it, and sell too soon.
         | 
         | The only proven way to make a killing in crypto is to be
         | physically prevented from losing it, trading it, or selling it
         | for ten years.
        
           | 9front wrote:
           | The fear of losing is greater than the desire to win! So
           | people trade or sell before a ten years timeframe.
        
             | brianwawok wrote:
             | This only reads that way looking back over a raising value.
             | Look at a stock that goes to 0 and call the people that
             | sold early fearful of losing,
        
               | Detrytus wrote:
               | When the stock/crypto goes up 100% people will gladly
               | take their profits and go on with their lives, instead of
               | waiting for even bigger profits.
               | 
               | When the stocks starts its fall towards 0 people will do
               | incredible mental gymnastics, clinging to any shred of
               | hope that things will turn around and they will revert
               | their losses, so it takes them much more time to get out
               | of the bad investment.
        
               | ta988 wrote:
               | And when crypto goes to 0?
        
           | bearjaws wrote:
           | They only lose their shirts because its speculative
           | gambling... They are scared the same way the person betting
           | on red is.
        
             | bboygravity wrote:
             | You're describing anybody investing in anything (except
             | those who cheat).
        
               | amanaplanacanal wrote:
               | I like to distinguish investing from speculating.
               | Investing is putting money into a business which actually
               | makes money. Speculating is buying something because you
               | think the price will go up.
        
               | cwalv wrote:
               | If the price does go up, did it "actually make money"?
        
       | pessimizer wrote:
       | Sounds like a big crash is coming as people dump that stuff.
        
       | guywithahat wrote:
       | This isn't the first time it happened. When MtGox went insolvent,
       | the price of bitcoin tanked and they had enough cash on hand to
       | replace everyone's funds, but the lawyers said no because there
       | wasn't enough fees.
       | 
       | This whole thing should have been resolved years ago, I still get
       | bankruptcy emails and I feel bad for the poor soul who has to
       | waste his whole career fighting over who gets the remaining
       | sliver of money instead of doing something productive.
        
         | throwup238 wrote:
         | _> I feel bad for the poor soul who has to waste his whole
         | career fighting over who gets the remaining sliver of money
         | instead of doing something productive._
         | 
         |  _Returning_ money is the most productive thing a lawyer can
         | do.
        
         | otoburb wrote:
         | >> _When MtGox went insolvent, the price of bitcoin tanked and
         | they had enough cash on hand to replace everyone's funds, but
         | the lawyers said no because there wasn't enough fees._
         | 
         | Which lawyers are you referring to that said "no because there
         | weren't enough fees"? Seems contradictory because lawyers at
         | the time in 2014 had no idea that the value of the remaining
         | digital assets would rise.
        
           | jrflowers wrote:
           | I'm going to guess it might've been lawyers that are
           | presently happy to have been able to bill hours for this for
           | the past decade
        
       | pmarreck wrote:
       | Notoriously, the site developer wrote his own crypto code... in
       | PHP... which you should never do, regardless, but especially in
       | PHP (I recall some numerical limitation having to do with bit
       | rotation and automatically-signed numbers at the time)
        
         | meowface wrote:
         | I hate PHP, but this is not a good comment.
        
           | FactKnower69 wrote:
           | Do you have any professional experience using PHP? I have
           | never in my life used another web development platform that
           | requires me to install 3rd party patches like Suhosin to get
           | to a baseline level of security
        
         | tinco wrote:
         | Right, but he didn't get hacked because of that, he got hacked
         | because he's the sort of person who would make such a choice.
         | He is just a bad developer and a bad person to have run a bank
         | or anything significant really.
        
       | maipen wrote:
       | 9 billion dollares worth of BTC.
       | 
       | It's honestly not that impactful as people may think.
       | 
       | Note that BTC's last 24h volume was $15Billion (some of it is
       | fake, but it's still alot)
       | 
       | The price reaction to this news proves it.
        
         | Detrytus wrote:
         | This suggests that >90% of BTC trading volume is fake: https://
         | www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S15446....
         | 
         | But the study is from 2021, maybe introduction of Bitcoin ETFs
         | made things better.
        
       | o_____________o wrote:
       | I wonder if Bitforex, which was either taken offline as an exit
       | scam or government intervention, is going to follow a similar
       | path
        
       | dragoncrab wrote:
       | The background of the multiple hacks that led to the demise of
       | Mt. Gox got a nice coverage on Darknet Diaries in 2017:
       | https://darknetdiaries.com/transcript/9/
        
       | m3kw9 wrote:
       | About the only way to hold bitcoin without selling is forced to
        
       | qingcharles wrote:
       | Ilya's little $5Bn stash is also going to cause issues now his
       | case is over and I assume it is all forfeited by the US govt:
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Bitfinex_hack
        
       | Dwedit wrote:
       | Mt. Gox is short for "Magic The Gathering Online Exchange", and
       | the site's focus was on virtual trading of cards for Magic Online
       | rather than cryptocurrency.
        
       | grondilu wrote:
       | They took 20 bitcoins out of me, but I never bothered to fill the
       | paperwork. Oh, well.
        
       | teractiveodular wrote:
       | Payouts still have not _actually_ started. It is long been
       | theorized that BTC prices will crash when they do, since the
       | market will be flooded with people trying to finally realize
       | their USD gains.
        
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       (page generated 2024-06-29 23:01 UTC)