Bitcoin Report: Hedge Funds Snapping Up Mt. Gox Customer Claims

International hedge fund operators are snapping up claims from former customers of the now defunct bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox.
The story was broken by reporters at the Financial Times (subscription required) who relied on their own sources at unnamed international hedge funds. The current offer being floated is 15 percent of the claims value in Japanese Yen. (Mt. Gox was based in Japan.)
It’s an interesting offer that hedges entirely on whether or not Mt. Gox customers ever actually receive any compensation for their claims.
Mt. Gox was the epicenter of worldwide bitcoin trading in 2014 when hackers broke into its servers and stole 850,000 Bitcoin. At the time, bitcoin was trading at around $450 (USD), making the whole heist worth around $475 million.
Since the heist, Mt. Gox has gone out of business and its former customers are still waiting for some sort of legal redress. At last count, approximately 24,750 of them had filed claims, which were reviewed and validated by a Japanese bankruptcy court.
Unfortunately for Mt. Gox’s former customers, most analysts predict that they’ll only see around 25% of their bitcoin come home, and that’s if they’re very lucky. That’s where the hedge fund operators come into the picture.
Clever hedge fund managers are offering to buy the outstanding claims for 15% of the bitcoin’s value. That lets the bitcoin owners walk away with something, while avoiding a lengthy wait for their money.
For the hedge funds, the claims are as good as money in the bank, and then some. After all, they’re buying bitcoin at a 2014 price of $450 and once the claim is settled completely, they’ll be able to sell them at current market prices. As of this morning, a single bitcoin was trading for $1012 US dollars.