Kraken, one of the leading bitcoin exchanges, announced on Wednesday that significant progress has been made in the investigation into claims from creditors of MtGox.

MtGox, founded in 2010, was the leading bitcoin exchange based in Japan and by 2013 it was handling nearly 70% of all bitcoin transactions. However, in February 2014, the company suspended trading with CEO Mark Karpeles saying that the problem stemmed from "transaction malleability" - a software flaw that allowed outsiders to manipulate the bitcoin transactions and steal money from the exchange. Subsequently, the website as well as exchange service was shut down and MtGox filed for a form of bankruptcy protection from creditors.

At the time of the company's collapse, around 744,400 BTC (then worth $340m) was reported missing. Karpeles said he found some 200,000 of the lost coins in cold wallet later; however, speculations were high on insider involvement.

In November 2014, Kraken was selected to assist Tokyo District Court-appointed Trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi in the bankruptcy investigation of missing Bitcoin, receiving claims and distributing remaining assets to creditors of MtGox.

The Trustee has now provided an update on the investigation in claims at a scheduled Creditor’s Meeting in Tokyo. Out of 9,863 persons who filed Bitcoin-only claims through the Japanese Trustee or through Kraken’s online service, 7,952 claimants have been approved. ¥12,583,717,791 in bitcoin has been approved to creditors, with ¥27,547,026,403 in bitcoin on hold.

Trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi said, “Although the investigation into MtGox claims is still ongoing, we have made significant progress for creditors.”

To check their claims, claimants need to visit the link: https://claims.mtgox.com/assets/index.html. For receiving claims in bitcoin, creditors are required to register an account with Kraken at Kraken.com.

According to the report, more than 24,000 people across the globe filed bankruptcy claims related to the MtGox exchange, with the total amount of bankruptcy claims (filed in both bitcoin and fiat currencies) amounting to ¥ 2,695,239,249,594. The Trustee is currently in possession of 202,163.41191816 bitcoin, currently worth over $84 million USD.