Citing privacy risks, Mt. Gox trustee suspends bitcoin address list release

The trustee of the collapsed Tokyo-based Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange issued a notice Wednesday, stating that plans to release of a list of bitcoin addresses controlled by the debtor (Mt. Gox) have been suspended, according to a report by LeapRate.

The statement, issued to creditors, said that as announced in the previous creditors meeting, the trustee had been preparing the release of the list of debtor-controlled bitcoin addresses in hopes of facilitating the investigation into the root causes of the bankruptcy.

“However, since we have newly identified material risks of endangering personal information or the privacy of users in releasing the list, we have been analyzing the actual risk thereof and have heard opinions among the bitcoin community on this regard, with the support of Payward Group, a supporting company to the debtor,” said the statement. “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 spend the release.”

Meanwhile, findings of the investigation, conducted with Payward Group’s support, will be announced whenever, and however, the trustee deems appropriate, according to the statement.

In February, bitcoin exchange Kraken, tasked with helping Trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi investigate the missing bitcoin, said it had made “significant progress” in the investigation of claims made by Mt. Gox creditors.

At the time, 24,733 people worldwide had filed bankruptcy claims, worth $23.747 billion in both bitcoin and fiat currencies in total.

Image credit – Public domain image by Satoshi