Unconfirmed: CoinLab Increases Mt. Gox Claim from $75 Million to $16 Billion

CoinLab has reportedly filed a 1.7 trillion JPY claim against the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, according to an alleged photo of the filing document posted on Reddit on Feb. 1.

As Cointelegraph reported in its Mt. Gox recap in March last year, in 2013, CoinLab, a former business partner of the exchange, sued the company for $75 million, claiming breach of contract.

The contract stipulated that CoinLab would take over the American customers of Mt. Gox, but it never happened.

Photograph of alleged CoinLab Mt. Gox claim.

Some in the cryptocurrency community have seen the alleged increase in CoinLab's claim as unjustified.

"Looks like this was done pruposefully [sic] just to block any creditor pay outs? [sic] Care to clarify how this claim is justified?".

This lawsuit, according to multiple sources, could be delaying payouts to users that lost funds the collapse of the exchange.

"I think people are having a hard time getting their heads around the $75m+ claim given that common perception is that CoinLab never performed and owes $5m+ back to MtGox. If the deal had been carried out, it might be CoinLab on the hook for the shortfall of client deposits."

As Cointelegraph reported at the end of December last year, Mark Karpeles - the former CEO of now-defunct Mt. Gox - has affirmed that he is not guilty in the final argument for his trial.

In the month before this happened, Nobuaki Kobayashi, trustee of the now-defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, announced that he is making efforts to extend the deadline for filing civil rehabilitation claims.