Kraken to Assist in Search for Missing Mt Gox Bitcoins

Digital currency exchange Kraken announced today that it has been chosen to support the investigation of Mt Gox’s stolen bitcoins, manage the claims process and distribute the defunct company’s remaining assets to creditors.
The announcement was made at the second hearing for Mt Gox creditors held today at Tokyo’s District Court.
Speaking at a press conference following the hearing, Kraken CEO Jesse Powell said he was “very humbled for the opportunity to help the community like this”, and that his firm hopes to repair bitcoin’s damaged reputation in Japan as much as build its own in the local market.
He said:
“It’s Kraken’s philosophy to always put the clients’ best interests first, and this is a philosophy that we will carry with us through supporting the trustee.”
There are still many decisions to be made in the process and Kraken has many questions of its own, he further added. The exchange will work closely with the trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi to investigate what happened at Mt Gox as much as possible, although it will not have direct access to Mark Karpeles, Mt Gox’s CEO.

This post was published at Coin Desk on November 26, 2014.