The influence of the fall of the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange are still felt on the market today, regardless of over 3 years having passed since its collapse.
For those who do not know, Mt. Gox was once the biggest bitcoin exchange on the market, handling over 70% of all transactions back in 2014. However, in February that year, the exchange decided to suspend trading, while also closing both its exchange service and the actual website, shortly after filing for bankruptcy, after over 850,000 bitcoin, valued at over $450 million were stolen.
An investigation in this regards was obviously started shortly after, which is still continued today. With this in mind, according to recent reports, Mark Karpeles, the CEO of Mt. Gox, widely believed to be behind this ‘hack’, pleaded not guilty in the court of law, related to the charges associated with the loss of the funds in question.
It seems like the plea was filed as a direct response to the charges of embezzlement, but also data manipulation, being made in the Tokyo District Court.
It is important to point out the fact that in the initial bankruptcy filing, Mt. Gox, blamed hackers for the bitcoin that has disappeared, while also pointing fingers to a security flaw that was later discovered. Soon enough, 200,000 of the missing coins were allegedly found.
Karpeles first came under the attention of law enforcement, after it was discovered that a total of $3 million, was transferred to an account under his name, from another belonging to Mt. Gox and holding customer funds. It has since been reported that the lawyers of Karpeles stated that the remittance of the money had a clear revenue scope related to the firm, and was not an embezzlement of customer funds.
To put things better into perspective, the collapse of the Mt. Gox exchange represented a huge setback for the development and popularity of bitcoin, as it damaged both value, but also the image of digital currencies in the eyes of the people, and potential investors. Following the disappearance of the funds, bitcoin’s value fell from around $1,100 to $200-$300, where it stayed for a considerable period of time, before picking up value again.
Japan, the home-country to Mt. Gox recently became the first country in the world to nationally regulate cryptocurrency exchanges.
Based on everything that has been outlined so far, what do you personally think about the latest developments associated with the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.