Fortress Raises Buyout Offer for Mt. Gox Claims

The third time might be the charm for the Fortress Investment Group.

Bloomberg reports that the private-equity and hedge-fund firm has increased its offer to acquire creditor claims of the now-defunct Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange.

The New York-based and SoftBank-backed fund manager offered creditors $1,300 per bitcoin – about 88% of its estimated value. Fortress offered $755 per bitcoin late last year, a small bump from the $600 it offered last March.

Tokyo-based Mt. Gox was once the biggest bitcoin exchange in the world. After losing nearly $500 million worth of bitcoin however, the company was forced to shut down in early 2014.

Some of those coins have since been found, but reimbursements have reportedly been held back by lawsuits.

Citing these suits, Fortress managing director Michael Hourigan wrote that his firm’s offer was “due to the likely timeline (3 to 5 years) and financial risk of the ongoing litigations.”

Photo: BTC Keychain