Ever wonder where the ill feelings people have toward bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies come from? Besides it being new, bitcoin seemed to develop a well-known reputation for being associated with scams and money loss, seeing as there always someone being scammed out of their coins all the time. Once in a while though, it happens on a much grander scale. Here’s the Top 4 Worst People in Cryptocurrency History.
1. Mark Karpeles
Owner of the former Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange, is probably the most hated man in the history of bitcoin. If you haven’t heard already, Mr. Karpeles ran Mt. Gox from 2010 to early 2014. In February of 2014, Mt. Gox went offline, taking of the bitcoin in the exchange along with it. Mt. Gox also filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors. Karpeles made off with 850,00 bitcoins; or $450 Million (at that time). In late 2015 Karpeles was detained in Japan for suspicion of corporate embezzlement and other related charges.
2. Trendon Shavers
Trendon Shavers takes credit for the largest bitcoin scam in history. He was the creator of Bitcoin Savings & Trust, which raised 764,000 bitcoins worth at the time $4.5 million. Shavers made outlandish promises of 7% returns weekly. Total for a year that would be a 3,641% return. An investigation into BTCST revealed Shavers was actually only investing small sums of the money he was raising at the time, and was using funds from one investor to pay off another. Shavers was arrested and plead guilty to operating a $150 million Ponzi Scheme.
3. Ryan Kennedy
Kennedy was a student at City College Plymouth when he created the Dogecoin trading platform Moolah. Well, if you couldn’t guess by now, Kennedy also ran off with some cryptocurrency that wasn’t his, $1.4 million for Moolah users to be exact. After Mintpal was hacked for $2 million, Kennedy and a few others bought Mintpal and integrated 70,000 accounts over to Moolah. Shockingly enough, Moolah went belly up right after. Kennedy was also accused of stealing around 750 bitcoins from the Dogecoin community, and was dubbed the guy who ruined Dogecoin. Additionally, if for nothing else than to show this guy was really just a scumbag, Kennedy also has been charged with 14 counts of sexual misconduct against 5 women. 11 of the 14 counts are rape. Gross.
4. Steve Chen
Steve came up with a scam that hurt the entire cryptocurrency world in general called Gemcoin. Chen and nine others were charged with running a Ponzi scheme that targeted U.S. and Chinese citizens. Invest in Gemcoin they said, you’ll make big money they said. Well, that wasn’t the case. Instead Chen and Co. ran with investors’ money, somewhere in the $100 Million range. A class action lawsuit was filed for the $100 million, and Chen along with his pals, were jailed.
If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.
