Bit_Happy sez:
Perhaps Japan will surprise the world with their 'discovery' of another large amount of missing coins?*
*Provided by Mark shortly after he found out the alternative was certain jail.
Nagle sez:
The Sunlot proposal looks like a desperate attempt to gain control of the investigation and prevent that [MK going to jail] from happening.
Granted!
From a Japanese perspective though, the best kind of settlement of the Mt. Gox collapse would be one that is uniquely Japanese, and not something proposed by foreigners. No doubt the Japanese spokesman's comment that the government is "very interested in bitcoin" is entirely accurate.
Many things tie bitcoin to Japan, not the least of which is the Japanese-sounding nom de plume, Satoshi Nakamoto, of the Bitcoin protocol and Core author(s) and of course Tokyo-based Mt. Gox itself. Right now, the latter is probably regarded as a huge liability by the authorities, yet liabilities can always be flipped into assets with only a little bit of imagination.
For example, it could make sense for a resurrected Mt. Gox to join one of the financially-oriented keiretsus, such as Sumitomo, as a kind of "younger-brother" company wherein it could be nursed back to its financial health.
Once recovered, and it's depositor's repaid in full, it could help turn around Japan's image as having a "sick" financial industry and transform it into one of being a financial innovator, that meets and exceeds investor's expectations, thereby improving the country's attractiveness for foreign investors.
It might not even turn out to be very expensive to restore Mt. Gox should a large amount of the missing coins happen to unexpectedly resurface.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration is doing its best to enhance the attractiveness of Japan for investors, and saving Mt. Gox from liquidation could be an important further step should they be able to reach consensus with Japanese leaders to take this action.
Does anyone know what "Save Mt. Gox" is in Kanji?