A group of investors has offered to buy bankrupt Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, as part of a bid that will require the approval of its Japanese bankruptcy court.
The investors are offering to pay 1 BTC for the troubled exchange, an amount which, at press time was worth $383, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (USD BPI).
The Wall Street Journal reported that the investor group would assume all of Mt. Gox’s liabilities and obligations.
In documents submitted to the Japanese bankruptcy court, the group reportedly outlined plans to resuscitate Mt. Gox, which included proposals for customers who hold outstanding claims against the exchange.
Jumpstarting Mt. Gox
The single-bitcoin valuation is based on the premise that the true value of Mt. Gox is difficult to determine.
Wrote the Journal:
“According to people familiar with the plan, the group is justifying the low price because of the ‘information vacuum’ over Mt. Gox’s 550,000 missing bitcoins, currently worth about $220 million. It isn’t possible to place a value on the lost coins, they said.”
Creditors will have two options. They can either receive a prorated amount from the 200,000 bitcoins recovered by Mt. Gox equal to roughly 20 percent of their claim, or obtain an equity stake of that amount in the revitalized Mt. Gox exchange.
The investor group pledged to set aside 50% of transaction fees to pay back creditors over time.
Diverse group seeks ownership
The investor group behind the bid includes venture capitalist Brock Pierce, founder of a number of bitcoin-related businesses including KnCMiner and GoCoin, and the creator of a prominent bitcoin syndicate.
Other members of the group include John Betts, a former Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs executive who would serve as the new Mt. Gox CEO, and William Quigley, managing director for Clearstone Venture Partners, a VC fund based in Santa Monica, California.
Image credit: Bid proposal via Shutterstock