ASX-listed crypto fund in stoush with co-founder over $29m wallet

Jessica SierNorth Asia correspondent

Jul 9, 2024 – 6.22pm

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DigitalX, the ASX-listed fund manager specialising in cryptocurrencies, is heading to court against its former chief executive over who owns a bitcoin wallet linked to collapsed Japanese exchange Mt. Gox, which began paying out creditors this week.

Alex Karis and the company he co-founded are in the midst of a stoush over the ownership of trading accounts that lost 351 bitcoins in the collapse of Mt. Gox in 2014. At today’s prices, those bitcoins are worth about $29 million.

Bitcoin owners protesting against Mt Gox, the Japanese crypto exchange which collapsed in 2014. Bloomberg

Federal Court judge Katrina Banks-Smith said on Tuesday that the matter would head to trial, after the company failed to have Mr Karis’ claim dismissed.

DigitalX had argued that Mr Karis’ claim had no reasonable prospects of success, but Justice Banks-Smith decided the case needed further examination and would go to trial.

The decision comes as thousands of Mt. Gox creditors – including at least 50 Australians – began to receive payment this week from Japanese bankruptcy trustees after a decade-long legal process.