[2014-05-08] CD: Mt. Gox Settlement Proposal Granted Key Preliminary Approval

[bryant.coleman]

http://www.coindesk.com/mt-gox-settlement-proposal-granted-key-preliminary-approval/

The proposed plan to revive bankrupt Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has received a key preliminary nod of approval. The news comes roughly one week after an initial hearing delayed any decision at the request of lawyers representing Tibanne KK and Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles.

The proposal, submitted jointly by the legal representation of the exchange’s international users, would find the class settling its claims against former Mt. Gox chief marketing officer Gonzague Gay-Bouchery and equity stakeholder Jed McCaleb. In addition, Sunlot Holdings, the investor group that has placed a 1 BTC bid to buy the troubled exchange, would purchase the exchange and its related liabilities and provide former users with a 16.5% equity stake in the new operation.

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[ISAWHIM]

Nice... Now all we need is the doors to open...

It's been a long wait, and I can't wait to start trading again.

[bryant.coleman]

Nice... Now all we need is the doors to open...

It's been a long wait, and I can't wait to start trading again.

What? You are talking about trading in the Mt Gox again? I am afraid that you might have to wait at least 12 months to do that. Anyway their reputation is gone... I am not predicting a large number of users.

[TraderTimm]

Only a bunch of total idiots would think a 16% "Equity Stake" would be worth something. Please, buy into this lock, stock and barrel so I can sit here and cackle at the unfortunate nature of human stupidity. The brand name, to put it politely, is so toxic it should be placed in a welded steel drum and buried deep in a salt mine for 1,000 years to erase all memory of it.

I'd also like to remind the potential "investor" in this scheme to understand that 16% of zero is still zero. There is no guarantee that this will even survive if they manage to put up a website to attract new suckers investors.

It isn't even worth the 1 BTC posted, honestly.

[bryant.coleman]

It isn't even worth the 1 BTC posted, honestly.

Yes. Right now Mt Gox isn't worth a penny. But some hard working people are trying to revive it. Let's give them a chance. If they actually revives it, then everyone gains, as a 16% stake is given to the ex-users.

[DooMAD]

People should tread carefully here as this could set a dangerous precedent for the future. I'm all in favour of trying to recover assets and returning them to creditors if possible.  But the absolute last thing I would want to see is the Bitcoin community starting to mimic the fiat equivalent of the "too big to fail" mindset.  If a company has failed in such a catastrophic fashion as gox has, should we really be setting the example that we'll give them another chance?  It may sound harsh, but I feel Darwinism has a role to play here.  I say don't bring it back.  Get as many coins back to the original owners as possible and then consign it to the history books as a stark warning to other incompetent or malicious "entrepreneurs".

[jbrnt]

This nod of approval is from a US Illinois court, but the bankruptcy is filed in Japan. How does it help? Isn't it still up to the liquidators in Japan? I understand those who have lost coins would want to bring Gox back, but I think it is time to let go. I do not believe users would want to trade there ever again.

[odolvlobo]

It isn't even worth the 1 BTC posted, honestly.

Yes. Right now Mt Gox isn't worth a penny. But some hard working people are trying to revive it. Let's give them a chance. If they actually revives it, then everyone gains, as a 16% stake is given to the ex-users.

I am not directly affected by the Mt. Gox tragedy, but I have lost many coins in other Bitcoin failures and I understand what people are going through. I'm not against reviving Mt. Gox, but I think expectations are too high. People are going to be disappointed in the end.

As TraderTimm pointed out, "Mt. Gox" is a toxic brand. If it is revived, it will never recover, and 16.5% of zero is still zero.

 I suspect that this is an attempt by a few people to make a quick profit. Their plan is to restart Mt. Gox with great fanfare, and then sell their shares to VCs for a quick profit, leaving the VCs and the other stakeholders with a dud. In my view, if Mt. Gox is restarted, anyone with equity should sell it immediately and invest in something that is more likely to make a profit.

[Minor]

The only way I see for Mt Gox's revival to work is if they get their 100,000+ former users involved again.

A simple way to do that, is to keep track of how many "lost coins" everyone had (the "goxed" coins) and promise to replace them progressively with real BTC gained from the trading fees.
User's account would show their real and goxed BTC balances separately along with any other fiat or crypto currency.

The goxed coins would then be traded for real BTC, LTC, dogecoin, USD, etc and, trust me, there would be a market for those goxed coins - at the right price.
They'd be heavily discounted at first, like towards the end of the original  Mt Gox, and they would gradually increase in value as people see them progressively getting replaced by real coins.
Some risk tolerant people could make a killing and others would gladly just recoup a fraction of their lost coins.

The new Mt Gox being a completely new company in a different country, backed and run by real capitalists, there would be no reason to associate it with the previous incompetent management.

[bryant.coleman]

I suspect that this is an attempt by a few people to make a quick profit. Their plan is to restart Mt. Gox with great fanfare, and then sell their shares to VCs for a quick profit, leaving the VCs and the other stakeholders with a dud. In my view, if Mt. Gox is restarted, anyone with equity should sell it immediately and invest in something that is more likely to make a profit.

Too early to say anything like that. Some of the people on board this new project do have good reputation in the Bitcoin sector. And no promoter is going to sell their shares immediately after starting a venture.

[DrApricot]

Restarting Mt. Gox is not in the economic interests of its investors, unless, of course, these folks know something of which the general public is completely unaware--such as the 650,000 still-missing bitcoins and $27 million in cash are likely to soon reappear. If so, then said resurrection amounts to little more than a bank heist.

CPA Jason M. Tyra wrote an excellent Bitcoin Magazine article explaining exactly why it doesn't make sense:

http://bitcoinmagazine.com/12675/mt-gox-shouldnt-stay/

[DrApricot]

The only way I see for Mt Gox's revival to work is if they get their 100,000+ former users involved again.

A simple way to do that, is to keep track of how many "lost coins" everyone had (the "goxed" coins) and promise to replace them progressively with real BTC gained from the trading fees.
User's account would show their real and goxed BTC balances separately along with any other fiat or crypto currency.

The goxed coins would then be traded for real BTC, LTC, dogecoin, USD, etc and, trust me, there would be a market for those goxed coins - at the right price.
They'd be heavily discounted at first, like towards the end of the original  Mt Gox, and they would gradually increase in value as people see them progressively getting replaced by real coins.
Some risk tolerant people could make a killing and others would gladly just recoup a fraction of their lost coins.

The new Mt Gox being a completely new company in a different country, backed and run by real capitalists, there would be no reason to associate it with the previous incompetent management.

This is a truly great idea, and reminds me a lot of Josh Jones' bitcoinbuilder.com. Google Takashi Mochizuki's excellent Wall Street Journal article on Josh's web site, "One Bitcoin Exchange’s Demise Is Another’s Birth".

Josh closed trading down when Mt. Gox's web site stopped operating, yet perhaps he could be persuaded to restart bitcoinbuilder and add alt currencies such as DOGE, etc. for exchanging people's Gox/BTC.

[bryant.coleman]

Restarting Mt. Gox is not in the economic interests of its investors, unless, of course, these folks know something of which the general public is completely unaware--such as the 650,000 still-missing bitcoins and $27 million in cash are likely to soon reappear. If so, then said resurrection amounts to little more than a bank heist.

But I think they have already made it clear that if someone finds the remaining 650,000 Bitcoins, then all of that will go to its original owners (i.e the 70,000+ Mt Gox users).

[DrApricot]

Restarting Mt. Gox is not in the economic interests of its investors, unless, of course, these folks know something of which the general public is completely unaware--such as the 650,000 still-missing bitcoins and $27 million in cash are likely to soon reappear. If so, then said resurrection amounts to little more than a bank heist.

But I think they have already made it clear that if someone finds the remaining 650,000 Bitcoins, then all of that will go to its original owners (i.e the 70,000+ Mt Gox users).

Better get it in writing!