Mt. Gox creditors may receive nothing if they fail to vote by Friday

Creditors from the now-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox have until Friday Japan time to vote on a rehabilitation plan that could pay back millions in lost Bitcoin (BTC).

Figures including Blockstream founder Adam Back and former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès took to social media this week to remind crypto users of the looming deadline. Claimants representing more than half of the lost value of the Mt. Gox collapse as well as half of all creditors must vote for the proposed rehabilitation plan by Friday for all to receive compensation.

The court will mark any missing votes as a “no” according to Adam Back:

LAST REMINDER if you got @mtgox'ed you really need to vote for the rehabilitation plan. missing votes count as NO (stupid I know). if they don't get enough YES votes matching > 50% of claim value, you don't get paid. VOTE NOW vote ends TOMORROW friday 8th https://t.co/XH5e8BtTnA

— Adam Back (@adam3us) October 7, 2021

The shuttered exchange's CEO Mark Karpelès likewise took to Twitter to encourage his former users to vote as soon as possible in the rehabilitation proceedings:

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

First launched in 2010 by programmer Jed McCaleb and later purchased by Karpelès, Mt. Gox was one of the largest exchanges in the world during the early days of crypto. However, a 2011 hack and the exchange’s subsequent collapse in early 2014 affected nearly 24,000 creditors — mainly those holding cryptocurrency. These events resulted in the loss of 850,000 Bitcoin, roughly $460 million at the time and $45.8 billion at the time of publication.

Japanese courts originally approved a petition for the exchange to begin civil rehabilitation for Mt. Gox creditors in June 2018. This deadline was repeatedly extended for reasons that included “matters that require closer examination with regard to the rehabilitation plan.” The Tokyo District Court accepted the current draft of the rehabilitation plan in December 2020 and issued an order in February allowing creditors to vote on it.

Following this week’s voting deadline, creditors are expected to attend a meeting on the resolution of the compensation plan on Oct. 20. They will reportedly have the option to proceed by voting online, by written statement, or in person on the day of the meeting.

Under the proposed draft, former Mt. Gox users who held crypto or fiat on the platform will have their claims honored should the rehabilitation plan become effective. Funds will be allocated toward the rehabilitation proceedings first, with creditors receiving funds thereafter.

If successful, aggrieved Bitcoiners will receive compensation more than ten years following the initial hack on Mt. Gox. Nobuaki Kobayashi, the lawyer appointed to oversee the civil reimbursement process, reportedly has 150,000 BTC with which to repay users.

“I just want my coins back,” said Twitter user th3wise0ld0wl, who claimed to be one of the Mt. Gox creditors. “I'm tired of how long and drawn out it is.”

Others who said they had voted on the plan claimed the rehabilitation rates for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies would be based on those from prior years, suggesting a far lower compensation value for their coins. Japan-based crypto exchange bitFlyer founder and CEO Yuzo Kano implied that he disagreed with the compensation plan and claimed the proceedings were “evaluated at the 2014 price.”

Related: Crypto City: Guide to Tokyo

The final hours of the Mt. Gox vote saw Japan rocked with a 6.1 magnitude earthquake around the Tokyo area. Last week also marked the first time in roughly six months that no state of emergency existed in the country during the pandemic.