Former Mt. Gox CEO proposes Bitcoin hard fork to recover $5.2 billion stolen assets
Odaily Planet Daily reports that the former CEO of the now-defunct exchange Mt. Gox, Mark Karpelès, recently proposed a Bitcoin hard fork plan. The proposal suggests modifying consensus rules to recover approximately 79,956 BTC stolen in the 2011 hacking incident, which is valued at about $5.2 billion at current prices.
The proposal targets a wallet address associated with the 2011 Mt. Gox system breach. This address received nearly 80,000 BTC after the hack and has remained unused for over 15 years. Under existing Bitcoin rules, these funds can only be transferred if the corresponding private key is available.
According to the proposal, new rules would allow the recovery address to sign and control the unspent outputs in that address, thereby integrating the funds into the existing judicial compensation process to repay Mt. Gox creditors.
Karpelès stated that the plan is only a starting point for discussion, with the rule change limited to a single address and activated at a specific block height in the future. However, the proposal also acknowledges that this would require a network-wide upgrade, and if some community members refuse to support it, there could be a risk of blockchain split.
It is important to note that these approximately 80,000 BTC are not currently part of the assets allocated to Mt. Gox creditors and are not controlled by the bankruptcy trustee.
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