Kobayashi said these payments have largely been completed for creditors who fulfilled the necessary requirements without encountering complications, apart from certain payment types.
However, many claimants remain unpaid because they have yet to complete the required procedures, while others have experienced problems during processing.
The trustee said the additional year would allow it to settle outstanding claims wherever reasonably practicable, although it provided no timetable for individual distributions or an updated count of affected creditors.
The decision means some former customers of the defunct exchange could face further delays in recovering assets that have been inaccessible for more than a decade.
Mt. Gox repayment process stretches into 2027
The latest postponement marks the fourth consecutive annual extension since the trustee initially targeted October 2023 to complete distributions.
That deadline was moved to October 2024, then October 2025, and finally October 2026, as the rehabilitation process repeatedly exceeded its scheduled completion dates.
The delays have continued despite significant progress since July 2024, when Mt. Gox began distributing Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash through designated cryptocurrency exchanges, including Kraken and Bitstamp.
By March 2025, more than 19,500 creditors had received Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash, according to an earlier trustee announcement. Those distributions followed payments made in July and August 2024 and additional settlements between January and March 2025.
The March update outlined requirements governing further transfers, including account verification, corrections to creditor information, exchange acceptance arrangements and security checks.
These procedures require coordination among claimants, the trustee, and designated exchanges, creating potential obstacles even after creditors submit their repayment details.
The prolonged process stems from Mt. Gox’s collapse in February 2014, when the Tokyo-based exchange filed for bankruptcy after reporting the loss of approximately 850,000 Bitcoin.
Once responsible for a substantial share of global Bitcoin trading, the platform’s failure left thousands of customers pursuing compensation through Japanese insolvency proceedings.
The exchange subsequently entered civil rehabilitation, which established a framework for returning recovered assets to eligible creditors through cryptocurrency distributions and cash payments.
Under the current arrangements, some creditors receive Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash directly through designated exchanges, while others receive cash proceeds from cryptocurrency sales.
Meanwhile, Kobayashi has directed unpaid creditors seeking information about their claims to the official rehabilitation claims system, where inquiries can be submitted through the frequently asked questions section.
He advised claimants to log in before contacting the trustee to facilitate identity verification, warning that requests submitted outside the system could be harder to process.
The trustee also cautioned that the volume of inquiries could delay responses, with creditors still awaiting confirmation of when their outstanding claims will be settled.
