This was an extremely short meeting. I didn’t check the exact time but it was probably about 40 minutes in total.

The Dutch ambassador was supposed to be present in the meeting to represent the Dutch creditors, but despite a lot of paperwork being prepared in advance he wasn’t allowed into the meeting!

The meeting was ended after around 7 questions. My interpreter didn’t get a chance to ask my questions, though half had been asked by other people.

One thing my interpreter said was, he felt that throughout the session they were trying to avoid answering the questions and just passing off the minimum they could get away with. This is the same as I noticed in the other creditor meetings.

I was pretty annoyed when they ended it. The meeting is only twice a year and it’s the ONLY time when creditors can get updated about one of the biggest bankruptcies in history. We are paying for these people to be there at the meeting updating us, and we are paying for the whole shebang. Their responsibility is to listen to our questions at the meeting, and not to answer them poorly and then slip off after 20 minutes.

Someone actually brought something similar up in the meeting, that the transparency and frequency of updates was terrible. But as far as my interpreter can tell they didn’t answer that.

List of questions and answers

Due to translation difficulties and lack of time I’m not going to go into full details but just paraphrasing the main points of them.

1) What will happen to the surplus over $483 per bitcoin generated from the sale of our bitcoins?

A) The money over $483 will go to the MtGox shareholders

That was the big one! The hydrogen bomb of the bankruptcy. Everyone now was in shock, or at least I was. I didn’t actually expect them to answer this question. This means that in all probability most of our bitcoins will be lost to the company shareholders, and it means that the trustee is not doing anything to stop this happening. I hope this becomes the pivotal moment when everyone has had enough shit. For me it certainly is. More on this soon.

2) What happens if any bitcoins are retrieved from BTC-e?

A) They will go into the asset list and the money will go to the shareholders [not the creditors].

3) Can you be more transparent? Updates twice a year is not enough. And how are you holding the bitcoins? Are they insured?

A) We can’t say how the bitcoins are stored, and we don’t know of any way of insuring them. [AFAIK there was no reply about the transparency]

4) The bitcoin price is unstable and selling them could cause it to drop. Are you selling all 200k? Who will help to sell them?

A) We are selling ALL the 200k. How we sell them is not yet finalised.

This is at odds with the handout sheet, which says they don’t know yet whether they’ll be selling them or distributing them directly.

5) This wasn’t a question, but rather a Japanese creditor making a long statement. He said he believed we should get our bitcoins back because they are a tangible asset such as other financial assets, and therefore should be defined as property – and property is returnable outside of a bankruptcy. He said he was forming a union.

A) The trustee said the bitcoins were NOT returnable, and that forming a union was his choice and he couldn’t comment on it.

“This will be the last question.”

6) Is there any new information about Coinlab?

A) We are working on the Coinlab case and we don’t have anything to share.

“This will be the last question.”

7) Do you have the Bitcoin Cash from the bitcoins?

A) Yes, we haven’t decided yet whether we’ll sell it or add them to the assets list. We are going to end the meeting now.