Bankruptcy Trustee Says MtGox Bitcoin Addresses Will Not Be Released

Nobuaki Kobayashi, Bankruptcy Trustee for now-defunct Japanese bitcoin exchange MtGox, released a statement today saying that he will not release a list of bitcoin addresses supposedly controlled by MtGox, which he hoped would aid the investigation and recovery of missing customer funds.

In February, Kobayashi released a report declaring that 202,163.41 BTC in customer deposits were being held by in trust by the bankruptcy estate, however, the report also revealed that an ongoing investigation was underway to recover additional funds.

In today’s press release, Kobayashi cites “newly identified material risks” to the privacy and safety of users on that list, as well as “opinions” from members of the bitcoin community, which played into the decision to scrap the publication of the list.

Kobayashi writes:

“As a result, the trustee has come to believe that the potential negative effect resulting from the release of the addresses would be much more detrimental compared to the degree of benefits that can be gained thereby, and, therefore, has concluded that we suspend the release.”

Today’s creditor memo also stated that the complete results of the MtGox investigation – which was conducted with the help of Payward Group, parent company of digital currency exchange Kraken – will be released at some point in the future “in a manner, at the timing, and with content, that the trustee believes to be appropriate.”

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