如何解读Mt. Gox的破产流程

    2月28日星期五，比特币交易平台Mt. Gox根据日本《民事再生法》【Civil Rehabilitation (MinjiSaisei) code】向法院递交了破产申请，宣布已经破产，同时向债权人寻求保护。这家公司在官方网站上发表声明称，公司希望进行重组，继续运营，“以提高向债权人的还款。”

    伦敦的另一家比特币交易服务商Selachii LLP公司闻讯立即召集了一群受害者向Mt. Gox公司发起了集体诉讼，指控它涉嫌严重过失和诈骗。美国伊利诺斯地区法院也接到了针对Mt. Gox的诈骗诉讼。由于这次Mt. Gox造成的损失高达5亿美元，全球各地的法院无疑还会接到更多类似的诉讼案件。

    这种民事诉讼还是很必要的，原因不是很明显，但也很简单：Mt. Gox的失误导致成千上万人委托给其交易的比币特和合法货币蒙受了损失。但这些人不是债权人，Mt. Gox的破产程序不能直接帮助他们挽回损失的财产。

    就像大多数破产程序一样，Mt. Gox的民事重组只能解决债务问题，包括贷款、未偿还的服务债务以及投资。由于Mt. Gox背后没有像美国联邦存款保险公司（FDIC）这种为存款提供保险的金融机构支持，因此在这种情况下，民事诉讼成了储户能追回损失的唯一一条明显的途径。

    民事重组之路

    东京Anderson, Mori &Tomotsune公司的永井一彰（音译）指出，日本的民事再生程序与美国破产法第11章的重组程序有很多共性，Mt. Gox下一步首先要等待民事再生申请的司法批准。“在标准情况下，是否受理的决定从申请之日起一周的时间就能下来”，也就是，说可能3月7号星期五就能有结果。不过，永井一彰也表示：“这个案子的情况很复杂，所以可能要多花些时间。”

    同时，也不能排除法官最终不批准民事再生的可能——比如如果真的存在明显的欺诈证据，或者如果法官认为重组计划不太可能被债权人投票通过的话。

    法院批准Mt. Gox民事重组申请的时机也会产生重大的影响，因为根据日本《民再事生法》第124条规定，它所承担的债务会按重组开始时的市值进行登记。这给Mt. Gox兜头浇了一盆冷水，因为Mt. Gox公司一份泄露出来的《危机策略方案》文件中曾提到，这家公司还痴心妄想用跌到谷底的内部价格为债务估值。另外自Mt. Gox申请破产重组以来，比特币的价格又回升了大约20%，因此大大提升了Mt.Gox未偿债务的价值。

    不过，《民事再生法》第124条也允许法院在公司重组过程中按照持续经营基准裁定其债务估值。考虑到比特币币值近年来的波动性，这意味着Mt. Gox的债务可能会越还越高，但反过来，假如比特币这个概念在“蒸发门”之类的打击下彻底崩盘的话，这些债务也有可能会缩水到几乎一文不值。

    一旦民事重组申请获得批准，Mt. Gox就要提交一份重组方案，其中包括向债权人偿还债务的方案。与此同时，债权人则需要提供详细的债务证明，一方面是为了证明债权关系，另一方面也是为了获得重组方案的投票权。

    On Friday, Feb.28, the bitcoinexchangeMt.Gox filed for bankruptcy under Japan's Civil Rehabilitation (MinjiSaisei) code, revealing that it was insolvent and seeking protection from creditors. On its website, the firm stated that it hoped to restructure and continue in business "in order to increase repayments to our creditors."

    Almost immediately, the London-based firm Selachii LLP, which has provided services to many bitcoin businesses, began assembling a class action lawsuit against the management of Mt.Gox on the basis of suspected negligence and fraud. A similar fraud suit has been filed in the Illinois District Court in the United States. More cases will almost certainly be filed as the international legal system attempts to process the loss of nearly half a billion dollars in investments.

    The civil suits are necessary for a simple but not quite obvious reason: The tens of thousands of people whose bitcoin or fiat currency were held and then apparently lost by Mt.Gox are not creditors, and the bankruptcy process will not directly help them regain their property.

    As with most bankruptcy processes, civil rehabilitation will address only debt obligations including loans, outstanding service debts, and investments. In the absence of any FDIC-like backing, civil litigation is the only apparent path for depositor recovery.

    The path to civil rehabilitation

    The civil rehabilitation process has many commonalities with American Chapter 11 restructuring. According to Kazuaki Nagai of the Tokyo firm Anderson, Mori &Tomotsune, the immediate next step will be judicial approval of the filing for civil rehabilitation. "In the standard case, the decision is made one week from the date of petition," which means it could come as quickly as Friday, March 7. However, Nagai warns, "In this case, it's very complicated, [so] it may take more time."

    There is also the chance that a judge may deny the application for civil rehabilitation -- if, for example, there is patent evidence of fraud, or if it is judged unlikely that a voting body of creditors would approve a restructuring plan.

    The timing of any acceptance of Mt.Gox's application for civil rehabilitation will have major implications because, according to Article 124 of Japan's civil rehabilitation code, liabilities may be registered at market values when rehabilitation commences. This throws cold water on Mt.Gox's delusional habit of valuing its obligations at its rock-bottom internal price (referenced in the leaked 'Crisis Strategy Draft' document). Moreover, the price of bitcoin has recovered by around 20% since the initial filing, vastly increasing Gox's outstanding liabilities.

    However, Article 124 also allows the court to order that valuation of liabilities be made on a continuing basis as the company restructures. Given bitcoin's volatility in recent years, this could leave a restructured Mt. Gox chasing an ever-mounting pile of obligations to bitcoin-denominated creditors – or it could mean those debts shrink to nearly nothing, if bitcoin collapses under the weight of failures like Mt. Gox's own.

    Once the filing for civil rehabilitation is approved, Mt.Gox will be expected to assemble a proposal for restructuring, including proposed repayments for creditors. At the same time, creditors will need to file details of what they are owed, both to establish claims and to gain voting rights over the proposal.