The well-known and highly-disliked CEO of the collapse bitcoin exchange wants creditors to be aware that he’s sorry for his poor leadership of Mt. Gox.
Speaking to The Asahi Shimbun paper, Karpeles stated that he’s working hard to repay creditors who lost hundreds of millions of dollars collectively in late February.
“I am truly sorry to the creditors around the world,” Karpeles said. “I wish I’d steered [Mt. Gox] in a better direction.”
The exchange for which Karpeles was responsible was the oldest and then-largest bitcoin exchange in the world. Mt. Gox prices were often seen as the de facto price of bitcoin.
A series of mismanagement steps caused the loss of over 700,000 bitcoins, however, eventually forcing the exchange to put a hold on deposits and halt trading altogether.
Several weeks later the exchange announced that they had mysteriously recovered 200,000 bitcoins found in what was assumed to have been an old, unused wallet.
Despite the mismanagement, Karpeles insists he’s working to right the wrong.
“I am doing my best to return as much as I can,” he was quoted as saying.
And while Mt. Gox is nothing more than ash at this point, another company — Bitocean Japan — is hoping to establish their own footprint in Japan, and they might even look to acquire what’s left of Mt. Gox.
Perhaps surprisingly, Karpeles said that he thinks it’s the best proposal to come out in terms of acquisition to date. But it’s not up to him what happens anymore.
“It’s for the court to decide,” he said. “However, if Bitocean Japan can continue Mt. Gox’s business, I want to cooperate.”
A creditors meeting took place on Wednesday, 23rd of July in Tokyo, in which Mt. Gox bankruptcy trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi announced he was planning to distribute what’s left of Mt. Gox funds as bitcoin, and not fiat.
Karpeles offered an apology at the meeting at the request of a member of a creditor.
