如何解读Mt. Gox的破产流程

    重组方案必须获得大多数债权人的投票支持。考虑到早在Mt. Gox破产的消息传出之前，外界对Mt. Gox和马克•卡佩勒斯就已经产生了不信任感，债权人完全有可能拒绝重组方案，而更倾向于破产清算。

    不过永井一彰也指出，在日本的民事再生案件里，“国际债权人一般很难获得信息，也很难参加债权人会议。”就算不考虑语言和距离的障碍，日本的法律程序也不像美国这样公开透明。比如破产文件一般不会向社会公开，但是对此感兴趣的有关方面包括债权人还是能通过特殊要求获得破产文件的复件印。

    即使国际债权人无法参与重组方案的投票，对于那些不放心卡佩勒斯人品的债权人和想挽回损失的储户们来说，他们也不用担心卡佩勒斯会在重组后的公司担任重要角色。永井一彰指出，在日本的重组程序下，“对破产负有责任的高层人员通常要么会辞职，要么会失去管理公司的能力。”相应地，权力会转让给法务团队、赞助银行以及不直接对破产负有责任的管理人员等。

    日本企业破产重组的规划和审批过程一般需要六个月左右，不过Mt. Gox一案的复杂性可能再次会拖慢这个过程。Mt.Gox另一个要逾越的障碍是，找到一家愿意资助其重组的赞助机构——这个角色通常由一家银行来扮演。由于此案的水又深又浑，Mt. Gox估计很难找到这样一家愿意帮它重新站起来的机构。

    民事诉讼对债权人的影响

    不过对于损失惨重的各国债权人或者把比特币委托给Mt. Gox交易的散户来说，Mt. Gox的重组与他们的直接关系并不大，他们最终还是必须寻求通过诉诸民事诉讼来挽回损失。

    Mt. Gox发布的数据似乎表明，Mt. Gox公司把它托管的现有比特币和现金都算成了自己的资产。但是Scarinci& Hollenbeck公司的破产专家乔•格鲁克斯曼指出，这与国际金融的基本原则是矛盾的。“如果我买了一支股票，然后把它放在一个保险箱里，再把保险箱放在瑞银的一个银行，并不等于它是瑞银的资产。”换句话说，Mt. Gox客户账户里的现金和比特币无论如何也谈不上是Mt. Gox的合法资产，而且也不能在破产中还给债务人或债权人。

    伦敦Selachii公司发起的集体诉讼一是要追回Selachii客户的财产，二是要查清这些财产去了哪里。这家公司的理查德•豪利特沈括：“大家都认为Mt. Gox的破产过程很可疑。虽然他们在申请破产，但是很多人都提出了很多疑问，而且得不到答案。”

    The proposal will need approval from a majority of creditors. Given the distrust directed at Mt.Gox and Mark Karpeles even before the revelation of insolvency, it seems entirely possible that creditors will reject any restructuring bid in favor of liquidation.

    However, Nagai warns, "In practice it's difficult for international creditors to get information or to take part in the creditors meetings" in a civil rehabilitation case. Even leaving aside barriers of language and distance, Japanese legal processes are less public and transparent than those in the United States. For instance, bankruptcy documents are not generally available to the public, though interested parties, including creditors, can obtain copies by special request.

    Even if they are not able to vote on the restructuring plan, creditors and depositors skeptical of Mt.Gox management can be reassured that Mark Karpeles is unlikely to retain a meaningful role. Under civil rehabilitation, says Nagai, "It's usual that management who have responsibility for [the] bankruptcy will quit or lose their ability to manage the company." That responsibility devolves to their legal team, any sponsoring lenders, and members of management not directly responsible for the bankruptcy.

    The process of planning and approving a restructuring generally takes about six months in Japan, though again, the complexity of the Mt. Gox case may slow that. Another unusually high hurdle is the likely necessity and difficulty of Mt.Gox locating a sponsor organization willing to fund its restructuring -- a role commonly taken by a bank. Given the very murky circumstances and lack of information surrounding its fall, Mt.Gox may have serious difficulty locating an institution willing to back its attempt to return to solvency.

    Civil suits for depositors

    But little of this is directly relevant for depositors who have may have lost dollars, euro, yen, or bitcoin held in trust by Mt.Gox, who will have to seek restitution through civil litigation.

    Numbers released by Mt.Gox seem to indicate that they are counting as assets all bitcoin and cash holdings that have remained intact. But Joe Gluxman, a bankruptcy specialist with the firm Scarinci& Hollenbeck, points out that this contradicts basic principles of international finance. "If I buy a share of stock and put it in a safe deposit box at a bank owned by UBS, it doesn't belong to UBS." In other words, cash or bitcoin linked to Mt. Gox customer accounts are not in any sense legal assets of Mt. Gox, and are not subject to recovery by debtors or depositors through bankruptcy.

    The Selachii class action suit is aimed both at recovery of Mt. Gox customer property, and discovery of where the assets went. (Applications for inclusion close at 4 p.m. GMT on Friday, March 7.) "The general consensus was that the way Mt. Gox went down was suspicious. Whilst they're filing for bankruptcy, lots of people are asking a lot of questions and can't get answers," says the firm's Richard Howlett.