Investment Giant Fortress Issues New, Lower Buyout Offer for Mt Gox Creditor Claims

Fortress has issued a new – and lower – buyout proposal for claims from the creditors of defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt Gox.

According to a one-page proposal obtained by CoinDesk, Fortress is offering Mt Gox creditors 70 percent of their account value. Based on the current price of bitcoin, the offer is below a previous proposal issued to creditors in July.

Mt Gox filed for bankruptcy in 2014 after losing a total of more than 850,000 BTC, although 200,000 BTC was subsequently found in an old-format wallet. Last year, Japanese courts changed the case from bankruptcy to a civil rehabilitation case, meaning creditors could now receive the missing bitcoin rather than the cash equivalent – approximately $566 – at the time of the exchange’s collapse.

Although a trustee has now been tasked with redistributing the remaining bitcoin, it has been delayed by a series of lawsuits brought against the Mt Gox estate. In its letter, Fortress says the lawsuits “threaten to delay and…