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‘I Don’t Want This Billion Dollars’: Ex-CEO Mark Karpeles Shuns Mt. Gox Windfall

Wilma Woo | Apr 04, 2018 | 09:00

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Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles publicly claimed he “doesn’t want” a windfall of 160,000 bitcoins, which should go to shareholders under Japanese law.

Karpeles: Get This $1.127 Billion Away From Me!

In a Reddit ‘Ask Me Anything’ Q&A session April 3, the defunct cryptocurrency exchange’s most infamous figure faced fresh criticism as he confirmed shareholders were in line to receive 160,000 BTC ($1.127 billion USD).

Mt. Gox is currently in the process of reimbursing users who lost funds during the infamous hack in 2014.

Under Japanese bankruptcy law, claims “were registered in the valuation of Japanese Yen on the bankruptcy date,” Karpeles explains, with the difference in exchange rate resulting in a ‘glut’ of bitcoins which, according to the rules, should be distributed among shareholders.

“That’s the only way any bankruptcy law can reasonably work. And yet, in this case, it produces an egregiously distasteful outcome in that the shareholders of MtGox would walk away with the value of over 160,000 bitcoin as a result of what happened,” he wrote on Reddit.

I don’t want this. I don’t want this billion dollars.

Mt. Gox Creditors Cry Foul

The process of returning funds to Mt. Gox’s long-suffering creditors has taken over four years and resulted in considerable frustration on the part of those who lost money.

While mass Bitcoin sell-offs to credit victims began in the last quarter of 2017, some are still hugely resentful of Karpeles, who is seen as the embodiment of the mismanagement, which continues to deprive them of their own funds.

One creditor, cryptocurrency commentator known as Flibbr, vented their frustration on social media as the Q&A continued, having submitted a query which went unanswered by Karpeles.

Karpeles did an AMA on reddit 1 hour ago. I posted to him how come he gets to keep all the btc, i get fucked all, when he's the one that committed fraud and kraken/jesse are incompetent and cannot respond to emails or make a working website @jespow @krakenfx @MtGox pic.twitter.com/wEbfTYWM06

— flibbr (@flibbr) April 4, 2018

Other Reddit users praised Karpeles for his current handling of the situation, describing his words as “pretty fair” and acknowledging his limited input on the reimbursement procedure.

What do you think about Mark Karpeles’ latest Reddit AMA? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of Twitter, Shutterstock, ibtimes.co.uk