Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of the long-defunct early Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, has published a tweet, addressing the cryptocurrency community with a crucial statement on BTC and its role in shaping the current finance industry.
He also revealed three key tech spheres he follows closely; crypto was among them.
Karpeles’s important Bitcoin statement
The person who ran the largest early exchange Mt. Gox, Mark Karpeles, unveiled that he closely watches three tech trends – cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. He explained that “all three are disruptive, causing innovation directly and indirectly.”
As an example, the mentioned Bitcoin: “I doubt finance would be how it is today without Bitcoin.”
Three techs I follow closely: cryptocurrencies, AI, and quantum computing. All three are disruptive, causing innovation directly and indirectly.
I doubt finance would be how it is today without Bitcoin.— Mark Karpelès (@MagicalTux) January 29, 2025
Brief history of Mt. Gox collapse
The aforementioned Mt. Gox was started in 2010 by Jed McCaleb for gathering trading cards and was then called “Magic.” In 2011, he sold the platform to French software developer Karpeles and went on to build XRPL, and then founded Ripple Labs.
Karpeles then renamed the platform Mt. Gox and turned it into the largest Bitcoin trading venue, as it boasted 70% of BTC transactions around the world at its peak in 2013. During the three years of its operation, Mt. Gox faced multiple hacks and a lack of good management and transparency. In 2014, Karpeles abruptly suspended withdrawals from Mt. Gox, depriving users of access to their funds.
Soon after that, the Bitcoin exchange went bankrupt publicly, and Karpeles announced that the platform had lost roughly 850,000 Bitcoins valued at $450 million back then (and worth billions of U.S. dollars today). Later on, 200,000 BTC were successfully recovered, and Mt. Gox began reimbursing the losses to customers last year. The remaining Bitcoins, however, are still lost.
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