Mark Karpelès, former director of bitcoin operator Mt. Gox, who went bankrupt in 2014 after a theft, wants to create a rating agency in the cryptocurrency industry.
“I experienced almost every problem I could find on an exchange platform. (…) I have accumulated a lot of experience in cryptocurrencies. My goal is that [o que ocorreu com a Mt. Gox] never happen again,” the French businessman, who lives in Japan, told a press conference in Tokyo.
In early 2014, a theft of nearly $470 million worth of bitcoin forced Mt. Gox declaring bankruptcy. At the time, the Japanese company was the world’s leading platform for transactions in this virtual currency.
Karpelès, known at the time as the “bitcoin baron”, spent nearly a year in pre-trial detention in Japan – it was suspected that he had embezzled funds for his own benefit.
He has always pleaded not guilty, but in 2019 he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison with probation for manipulating electronic data and acquitted of most other charges. His conviction was upheld on appeal in 2020.
Now he wants to create Ungox, in the third half of 2022, which will assess the risk levels of different cryptocurrency platforms and projects.
“There is still a lot to be done in terms of security” in cryptocurrency transactions, Karpelès highlighted, citing the recent theft of $600 million from the Ronin network, used for the online game Axie Infinity.
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