Smells like a big pile of steaming bullshit to me
Could be. There was an earlier announcement which said that Kraken would take over MtGOX and pay customers in bitcoin. This one is more limited and cautious, but it is still not clear what is certain and what is merely a wish of Kraken and/or the clients, that the trustee may concede or not. In particular, the statement that clients will be required to open an account at Kraken in order to receive the refunds seems to be just a wish...