`After one year of imprisonment, Mark Karpeles was recently released on $100,000 bail. The beleaguered former CEO of Mt. Gox, a bitcoin exchange launched from Tokyo in 2010, that went bankrupt after handling approximately 70% of all bitcoin transactions.
The year in prison has dampened Karpeles interest in Bitcoin, as he tweeted he does not care about the price currently. When he got out he almost immediately began trolling the Bitcoin Community.
For those who have followed Gox in recent years, you might be familiar with his love for cats. It makes sense, then, that his first tweet out of prison featured his cat.
At least someone is happy for my return. pic.twitter.com/PZmH30RwbI
— Mark Karpeles (@MagicalTux) July 16, 2016
He also made it clear he will not accept interviews.
NOTE – Please bear in mind I will not make any comment regarding any case I am or may be involved with, nor will I accept interviews.
— Mark Karpeles (@MagicalTux) July 16, 2016
He also poked fun at the block size debate, a heated debate amongst Bitcoiners currently who are debating whether to keep the Bitcoin protocol, designed by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, with 1MB block size, 2Mb block sizes or even as high as 4MB and above.
Karpeles has long had a on point Tweeting game.
From the inane:
The guy in front of me got a cute lady sitting next to him, I got a random japanese guy with long hair and hat
— Mark Karpeles (@MagicalTux) July 27, 2011
To the beautiful – double rainbows – as well.
Now at airport. Got a rainbow during taxi travel… No wait, DOUBLE RAINBOW!! … meh~ pic.twitter.com/OmjZSxgY
— Mark Karpeles (@MagicalTux) August 15, 2012
Karpeles’ professional life began in 2003 according to his LinkedIn. Karpeles is a PHP developer. He founded Tibanne Co. Ltd in 2009 and he was a founding member of the very controversial Bitcoin Foundation after working as CEO of Mt. Gox after buying the site, which was originally a Magic the Gathering card trading site. Ross Ulbricht’s defense suggested Mark Karpeles was the true Dread Pirate Roberts, responsible for running the Silk Road.
About $450 million was lost in the Mt. Gox collapse. Security experts have suggested the coins were stolen out of a hot wallet over time.
Karpeles was released in jail on bail after sitting in jail for a year. His bail was $100,000. He is prohibited from leaving the country. He was arrested twice in 2014 on embezzlement suspicions, and still faces charges. Ultimately, the mt Gox ordeal likely led to regulators in Japan to bring exchanges under the country’s AML and KYC charges.
Mt Gox creditors have claimed the exchange owes them $2.4 trillion in damages.
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