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Mt. Gox chief returns as an exec at a VPN giant
Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles may still be on trial for embezzlement in Japan, but that isn't stopping him from playing an influential role in the cryptocurrency world. As part of an interview with Fortune, the one-time bitcoin exchange leader has confirmed that he's now the CTO for London Trust Media, a company best known for its popular VPN service Private Internet Access. It's also an investor in cryptocurrency services like BlockExplorer, Purse.io and Zcash, but Karpeles insists he's not involved in that side of the business. London Trust Media co-founder Andrew Lee said he was happy to "give a second chance" to Karpeles in his "critical hour."
Former Mt. Gox CEO officially charged with embezzlement
Mt. Gox is a sordid story seemingly refuses to die. Last we heard, the bitcoin exchange's CEO Mark Karpeles had been arrested by Tokyo police, and some six weeks later he's been charged with pilfering 321 million yen (around $2.7 million) of former clients' money according to Reuters. Apparently he spent it on a custom-built bed and buying the rights for computer software development. Why the gap between arrest and now? Well, Japan grants that sort of holding even without formal charges. As the AFP Newswire tells it, Karpeles is still being held by Japanese authorities, but he can petition the court for "release pending trial." We'll have to wait and see if he exercises that right. [Image credit: Bloomberg via Getty Images]
Japanese court rules that bitcoin can't be 'owned'
Tokyo's district court has ruled that it's not possible for people to own bitcoin, and therefore they can't sue for compensation in the wake of Mt. Gox's collapse. The ruling comes a few days after the head of what used to be the world's largest bitcoin exchange was arrested on charges of fraud concerning its collapse. The case involved an anonymous individual who had 458 BTC in their account, roughly equivalent to just under $130,000 today. Naturally, the person was seeking to claw some of that cash back, but Judge Masumi Kurachi felt that bitcoins do not possess the necessary "tangible qualities" to constitute owned property under the country's law. We won't debate their wisdom here, nor the intricacies of Japanese property law, but given that Gox was holding thousands of people's bitcoin stashes, there's plenty more angry customers looking for compensation.
Former Mt. Gox CEO arrested in Japan over missing bitcoin
It's been months since Tokyo police revealed their belief that the Mt. Gox bitcoin heist was an inside job, and tonight they arrested its former CEO, Mark Karpeles. Some 650,000 bitcoin still remain unaccounted for since the exchange shut down in 2014, which Karpeles blamed on a computer flaw. According to the Wall Street Journal and The Japan News, police in Japan believe Karpeles manipulated the balances of the accounts using it to counter orders from customers and that some of the missing bitcoin may have never existed at all.
Tokyo police figure Mt. Gox bitcoin heist was an inside job
It's been about ten months since the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange turned out the lights, blaming hackers or a bug in the blockchain as reasons why 850,000 bitcoin it held had suddenly disappeared. Today the Japanese paper Yomiuri Shinbun (English) reports that Tokyo Police investigating the events have found evidence that only about one percent of the lost bitcoins disappeared due to hacking from outsiders. Citing sources inside the department, the report suggests that the rest of the 650,000 bitcoins still unaccounted for (200k popped up unexpectedly) were lost by "unauthorized operation" of the system. The evidence shows unauthorized transactions by someone that did not correspond to any customer accounts. There's no indication of who exactly was responsible, but former CEO Mark Karpeles told PC World via email that he will "continue investigating" to find out what really happened. Maybe North Korea could help? [Image credit: Photothek via Getty Images]
Court freezes Mt. Gox assets in US, lawyers dig into the case of the missing Bitcoins
A US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has just granted a temporary restraining order to freeze all US assets of Mt. Gox, Tibanne KK and Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles as part of an effort to find out exactly what caused the Japan-based Bitcoin exchange to fall. This follows the news that Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection in both Japan and the US, a month or so after the exchange went dark and claims it lost nearly 850,000 Bitcoins (roughly $541 million) due to "weaknesses in the system." The restraining order was filed by Edelson PC, the firm Gregory Greene hired to press class action charges against Mt. Gox for fraud. As Mt. Gox is based in Japan, it's unclear what assets there are to actually seize in the US, but the restraining order at least lets Greene's lawyers start the formal process of getting documents and information from the Bitcoin exchange. Perhaps we'll then finally uncover the secret behind its downfall; it'll at least be one Bitcoin mystery solved, anyway.
Mt. Gox CEO's blog hacked, database leak claims there should be a 951k Bitcoin balance (update)
The latest twist in the fall of Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox is here, as CEO Mark Karpeles, personal blog, MagicalTux.net (along with his Tumblr and Reddit accounts) has apparently been hacked. Whoever has control now used them to post a "MtGox2014Leak.zip" that claims to show "relevant database dumps, csv exports, specialized tools, and some highlighted summaries compiled from data." We wouldn't recommend downloading the file or running its included executable (pictured above, it claims to be from Mt. Gox parent company Tibanne Ltd.), but some already have. Several posters on Reddit and Twitter report they've verified their personal account balances with the data in it -- also available as an Excel spreadsheet -- tied to the user id included in their first Mt. Gox registration e-mail. Update: No one has commented on the database leak, but Mt. Gox has updated its website tonight with a spam warning (PDF) claiming that phishing emails are being sent to former users. Considering that personal details may be among data loosed from the exchange's servers, if you used the same password on MtGox.com and other sites, we'd recommend changing it right away. [Image credit: Reddit]
Mt. Gox reportedly subpoenaed by the feds, CEO confirms leaked proposal was legit
The strange days of (former?) Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox continue. In a conversation with an industry consultant posted by Fox Business, its CEO Mark Karpeles confirmed that a PDF leaked by The Two Bit Idiot is "more or less" legitimate. According to Karpeles, it was a "bunch of proposals to deal with the issue at hand, not things that are actually planned and/or done." The Wall Street Journal reports its sources confirm that federal prosecutors sent a subpoena to Mt. Gox earlier this month, requiring it to preserve documents. Since the exchange turned out the lights last night, the price of Bitcoin has actually risen again, and is currently showing a buy price of $581 on Coinbase. While the digital currency itself seems to be moving on, what's next for Mt. Gox is unclear. Karpeles sent an email to Reuters indicating an official statement will come "soonish," -- not too soon, we expect, for those waiting to find out what's happened to their funds.
