TL;DR:
- Mark Karpelès proposes a hard fork to rescue nearly 80,000 BTC that have been inactive for 15 years.
- This technical measure would allow the return of over $5.2 billion to the exchange’s creditors.
- The community is debating the risk of compromising Bitcoin’s immutability in favor of financial justice.
Mark Karpelès, the former CEO of the defunct Mt. Gox platform, has presented a formal proposal that has shaken the foundations of the crypto world. The plan suggests implementing a hard fork on the Bitcoin network to recover 79,956 BTC currently locked in an address linked to the hack suffered by the company in June 2011.
This initiative specifically targets the “1Feex” address, which holds 79,956 BTC valued at over $5.2 billion. Since the funds have not moved in over a decade, it is speculated that the private keys have been lost, motivating this rescue attempt through a change in consensus rules.
Technical Impact and the Immutability Debate
The implementation of this consensus rule would allow the funds to be transferred to a recovery address supervised by Japanese courts. However, this move has sparked intense controversy, as many experts believe that altering the Bitcoin ledger for a specific case sets a dangerous precedent.
On one hand, advocates argue that the unambiguous nature of the theft justifies an exceptional intervention to compensate the victims. On the other hand, critics warn that this measure could undermine trust in immutable digital property, opening the door to future governmental or judicial interventions on the network.
Consequently, the proposal’s success depends entirely on adoption by miners and node operators globally. Such an attempt carries the inherent risk of a blockchain split, which could generate a Bitcoin fork if a portion of the network decides not to upgrade its software.
Currently, creditors must closely monitor the progress of technical discussions while the trustee continues with the standard reimbursement process. The deadline for these repayments has been extended to October 2026, adding an extra layer of urgency and relevance to Karpelès’ proposal.
