The Step-by-Step MtGox Claim Process Review - Time Is Almost Up!

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UPDATE [5/30/2015]: We received a tip that MtGox is still taking claims.

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So we begin with the link. Buried within the PDF document issued a while back among a bunch of mixed languages and instructions.

For those wondering, it's here: CLAIM.

Seems easy enough, don't click it from the PDF (this) because you will annoyingly be [directed] away from the PDF which contains the instructions you may will need.

Of course, it has to be a pain in the ass. This is MtGox!

The Process 

To the link we proceed, and we go into another mixed language login screen and login as normal, expect you don't login. You go to another login to login, but can't login because you need a code to login and that's been sent to whatever email you were using over a year ago for this website. So if you still have that handy, you get a simple 5 digit code, and then go back to the second login screen you logged into from the 1st so you can login again, only you can't login, because they want you to create a new stronger password. They don't feel the old one's were strong enough...obviously, they don't want your Bitcoins to get ... you know ... stolen or anything...

...I'm going to pause right there for a moment for people to scream... 

Ok, we're back. Most of us anyway. Now that you have entered your code you received from logging in from login #1, to get to login #2, to go to email #1, all derivative of PDF #1, you may proceed to create your new password.

You can try your old one, they said mine wasn't strong enough (go figure), so I tried various versions of passwords that work for every single other site on earth. No good. However, ironically. MtGoxSucks#1Ass, well it worked like a charm, giving me the highest possible marks of security and success.

I guess the developers are not without a sense of humor, or they are just idiots, or both. Anything with the name of the site you are logging into is a piss poor security filter. Allowing it to pass a derogate such as how MtGox, sucks ass, is a bonus however, and suddenly, all of the aggravation leaves my being. Until I login, to login screen #3. 

Login screen #3, like login screen #2 before it, and #1 before #2, apparently isn't really a login #3 screen. It just plays one on the computer screen. No, it's actually just another screen in front of you not letting you login until you tell them if you are a Kraken user.

Kraken user? 

Kraken like the big ass ugly thing Liam Neeson released in Clash of the Titans?

Kraken, like Krakened Pepper for an afternoon summer salad?

Like plumber Kraken? 

What the hell is a Kraken and why am I being asked about a Kraken? Where on earth did Kraken come to play in the process?

I can only mutter obscenities out of my increasingly aggravated self, as I begin the paragraphs of reading telling me that we can now switch to a Kraken account, if we are not already a Kraken user. Again, WTF is a Kraken?

One of the many annoying MtGox claim screens...

Apparently, a Kraken, is a website, and an account in which you can receive bitcoins from your claim regarding bitcoins that are already yours, just stolen by MtGox's inside jobbers. They apparently don't trust you with your new strong password and feel Kraken is a better tool. The only problem is that:

"it has not yet been determined whether distributions in Bitcoin will be possible"

Well color me purple, because my face is likely past red at this point. In addition to this, they ask that you click the ever-so-damning "I agree" box to switch, which means you agree to the following:

█  If I/we file a bankruptcy claim through Kraken’s system, or if I/we choose to receive a distribution in Bitcoin or in cash through an account with Kraken’s exchange, the bankruptcy trustee will receive information on me/us that are held by Kraken, and will disclose to or share with Kraken information on me/us that is necessary to make the distribution.

█  If I/we file a bankruptcy claim through Kraken’s system and suffer any loss due to any trouble, failure, etc. relating to Kraken’s system, I/we will not make any claim, including any claim for damages, against MTGOX and/or its bankruptcy trustee in relation to such loss.

█  If I/we choose to receive a distribution, either in Bitcoin or in cash, through an account that I have with Kraken’s exchange, such distribution will be completed and the bankruptcy trustee’s responsibility to make such distribution will extinguish, when the bankruptcy trustee has transferred to Kraken the Bitcoins and/or cash to be used for the distribution. After the said transfer had been made, I/we will not make any claim, including any claim for damages, against MTGOX and/or its bankruptcy trustee even if I/we cannot appropriately receive the distribution from Kraken.

They do not, however, tell you what you are to do if you do not agree to this nonsense. For that, you must go back to page 8, Q22, of section 3 of the simple PDF guide it tried to pry you away from when you went to the login #1 screen. There you will find the magic answer that this screen is bullshit, [and that] you can worry about this later. This is the revenge for letting you get away with a password like MtGoxSucks#1Ass. Who said attorney's are not without a sense of humor? Or possibly by pure fate alone developers and attorneys alike unknowingly made this process this way because anything MtGox, must suck, or the universe will be out of alignment.

Math and Memories

Now, you didn't think the attorney's, and the developers, were going to have all the fun did you? Of course not. Accounting wants to join in as well, [and] they aren't going to tell you how much you can claim for, or how much you had in the account. Nope, that's you're job. Just conjure up from memory how much, exactly, you had in the account on exactly February 11, 2014 ([Japanese] time) for Bitcoin, and from February 26, 2014 ([Japanese] time) for cash; until the day before the commencement of the bankruptcy proceedings (April 23, 2014, [Japanese] time). I'm sure the bankruptcy trustee had a little fun with that one as well.

How in the hell are you supposed to remember this?

Especially when during part of this period of time, you couldn't even login to check!? Well I remembered, to the penny. $24,251.00 ... cash. Or was it coin? It was coin, around 55 of them, and 1 penny USD. Oh and also, you cannot file your claim in your respective currency, it must be in the Japanese yen. Little gem there as well. 

Remember the developers letting you get away with the SuckAss password? Better use an external currency converter to double check. Not that I don't trust these folks, but I really, really do not trust these folks. Do that and you will see the automatic currency converter is converting at a set rate, not that of the current actual exchange rate. So $24,2512.00 is currently 3007002.75 YEN, but is this what I am to get? Of course not. It's going to be at the exchange rate of 103.64, and not the current rate of 124. Why? I'll tell you why. It's because Japan isn't about to just let the attorneys, developers, and [the] accountants, have all of the fun. They want to get in [on] the action as well. 

In Japan, pursuant to Japanese Bankruptcy Law, the foreign currency exchange rates used are the closing rate of the telegraphic transfer selling rate of the Tokyo Foreign Exchange Market (the rate published by Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting Co., Ltd. on the day, (April 23, 2014) ([Japanese] time) exactly, before the commencement of bankruptcy proceedings. It appears, the Japanese lawmakers too, are not without a sense of humor. Silly rest of the world. 

Enter bitcoin. The one highlight, and the gotcha on it all however, is that the Bitcoin rate is to be honored. $483.00 USD/XBT. One small victory to the claim filers, however trust me, you're not leaving this screen with a damn thing, so it will be short lived. However, if you had more coin than cash, this will work to your advantage.

It would [not] be a truly enjoyable experience without pointing out this little Gem, Q33 of Section 4 of the PDF is this:

Q34: Can a conversion method different from the one determined by the bankruptcy trustee be used?

A: No.

That's it. No. The authors of this document are beginning to see the trend, and want in on the fun.

So, [let's] assume you got all the math done. You then need to figure out [your] accrual, 6% annually from the dates above, and then see if it matches (again with the trust thing).

Then if you so desire you can enter a pile of other worthless information; like your original information. However, most of this is optional. They even want you to enter your MtGox account number if you remember it.

Submit, print, done. Pain over[...]sort of. I'm still aching a bit.

Return of the Kraken

Now, if you don't remember your account amounts, you can still get them here: http://www.mtgox.com/, by using your old password, not your new password your created to protect your new non-existent coins. Just the old one reflecting the vapor that once was your coin. However, I noticed a slight discrepancy in the amounts.

[You go to] hit the Submit button, expecting something wonderful to happen, only to be let down by a [simple] number being returned and a print button showing up where "Submit" previously lived. [BAM!] You get another dose of the Kraken! 

What someone needs to do is Kraken someones skull open for this implosion of epic proportion, but [only] after the year it took [The Police Department] to realize what the rest of the planet knew back in February. That this [just] "might be" an inside job, [but] I would [not] recommend holding your breath. Nor would I recommend holding your breath while waiting for the claim to be received anytime soon.

It took these wizards well over a year to construct this annoying fucking thing. How long do you think it's going to take to check it all, push it through the courts, and actually start cutting checks? Or start issuing "Krakens"?  You might start looking for that 1943 Bronze penny. My guess is the time frame for either to come to fruition, is about the same. 

...and the odds may well be in favor of the penny.

UPDATE 5/30/2015: For an actual guide (below is commentary on the process, with some useful information, but not really a guide), here's a link: MtGox Claim Guide