Mark Karpelès

Last updated

Mark Karpelès
Born
Mark Robert Karpelès

1985 (age 38–39)
Chenôve, France
Occupation Entrepreneur
Known forFormer CEO of Mt. Gox

Mark Robert Karpelès [1] (born 1985) is the former CEO of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox. [2] [3] Born in France, he moved to Japan in 2009. [4] [5] Under his leadership, Mt. Gox was the world's largest bitcoin exchange, handling over 70% of all bitcoin transactions at its peak before filing for bankruptcy in 2014. [6] [7] [8] Karpelès was subsequently arrested and convicted of data manipulation related to his role at Mt. Gox.

Contents

Early life and education

Born in 1985 in Chenôve, France, Karpelès is the child of geologist Anne-Robert Karpelès. [9] [10] He was raised in Dijon. [9] [11] From 1995 to 2000, he attended Collège Prieuré de Binson in Châtillon-sur-Marne, near Dormans. [2] He then spent one year at Lycée Claude Bernard in Paris before completing his education in 2003 at Lycée Louis Armand in Paris. [2]

Career

In 2009, Karpelès founded Tibanne Co. Ltd., a Japan-based bitcoin related technology provider, where he served as CEO. [12] [13] He was a founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation, created in 2012 with a mission to standardize and promote bitcoin, and served on its board until February 2014. [14] [15]

In 2011, Karpelès acquired the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange site from programmer Jed McCaleb, with its original owner receiving 12% of the shares of the new company. [16] [17] [18] Under his management, the platform handled the majority of global Bitcoin transactions by 2014. [19] [20] Despite its growth, Mt. Gox faced growing operational, security, and financial challenges, including having $5 million seized from its accounts by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2013 for allegedly lying on bank documents. [21] [22] [23] Mt. Gox then experienced a theft of a significant amount of Bitcoin in 2014. [24] Mt. Gox subsequently filed for bankruptcy, and Karpelès was arrested that year and eventually convicted of data manipulation and falsification of records at Mt. Gox. [25] [26] [27] The collapse of Mt. Gox, and Karpeles's role in it, led Japan to create the first formal regulations for cryptocurrency exchanges and virtual currencies. [28]

After the collapse of Mt. Gox, Karpelès joined London Trust Media, the company behind Freenode and Private Internet Access, as its CTO in April 2018. [29] In 2023, Karpelès was appointed as the minister of technology for Joseon, which operates a blockchain to manage its currency Mun. [30] In 2024, Karpelès announced the launch of EllipX, a new cryptocurrency exchange, which will launch in Poland with Karpelès serving as chief technology officer. [31] [32]

Arrests and convictions

In 2010, at the age of 25, Karpelès was found guilty of fraud during a trial in absentia in France related to his actions on a private server, and he was sentenced to one year in jail. [33] [34] Karpelès had previously been arrested twice in France for charges related to computer fraud, and was convicted and received a suspended sentence of three months as a result of one of the arrests. [35]

In April 2014, after Mt. Gox had filed for bankruptcy, Karpelès was subpoenaed by the United States Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to testify in Washington, D.C. [36] [37] [38] He responded through his lawyers that he would not be attending the deposition. [39]

On 1 August 2015, Karpelès was arrested by Japanese authorities on suspicion of accessing the Mt. Gox computer system to manipulate account balances. [40] [41] [42] Tokyo prosecutors indicted Karpelès on a series of charges, including embezzlement and aggravated breach of trust, and called for a 10-year prison sentence. [43] Karpelès pleaded not guilty to the charges. [44] On 14 March 2019, the Tokyo District Court found Karpelès guilty of one count of data manipulation for falsifying data to inflate Mt. Gox's holdings by $33.5 million and not guilty of all other charges. [27] He was sentenced to 30 months in prison, suspended for four years, which meant he would serve no time in prison unless he committed additional offenses over the next four years. [45] [46] The court said Karpelès had inflicted "massive harm to the trust of his users" and there was "no excuse" for him to "abuse his status and authority to perform clever criminal acts". [27] Karpelès issued a statement saying he was "happy to be judged not guilty" on the more serious charges and was discussing how to proceed with his lawyers regarding his conviction on the falsifying data charge. [47]

During the 2015 trial of Ross William Ulbricht for operating the Silk Road marketplace, his defense argued that Karpelès, rather than Ulbricht, was the individual behind the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts". [48] Homeland Security Investigations agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan had also suspected Karpelès during a 2012–2013 investigation. [49] Karpelès denied any involvement, and Ulbricht was ultimately convicted. [50] [51]

Related Research Articles

A cryptocurrency exchange, or a digital currency exchange (DCE), is a business that allows customers to trade cryptocurrencies or digital currencies for other assets, such as conventional fiat money or other digital currencies. Exchanges may accept credit card payments, wire transfers or other forms of payment in exchange for digital currencies or cryptocurrencies. A cryptocurrency exchange can be a market maker that typically takes the bid–ask spreads as a transaction commission for its service or, as a matching platform, simply charges fees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brock Pierce</span> American entrepreneur and former child actor (born 1980)

Brock Jeffrey Pierce is an American entrepreneur known primarily for his work in the cryptocurrency industry. As a child actor, he starred in the Disney films The Mighty Ducks (1992), D2: The Mighty Ducks (1994), and First Kid (1996). He ran as an independent candidate in the 2020 United States presidential election.

Karpeles is a Jewish surname, and may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silk Road (marketplace)</span> 2011–2013 darknet market most known for the sale of illegal drugs

Silk Road was an online black market and the first modern darknet market. It was launched in 2011 by its American founder Ross Ulbricht under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts." As part of the dark web, Silk Road operated as a hidden service on the Tor network, allowing users to buy and sell products and services between each other anonymously. All transactions were conducted with bitcoin, a cryptocurrency which aided in protecting user identities. The website was known for its illegal drug marketplace, among other illegal and legal product listings. Between February 2011 and July 2013, the site facilitated sales amounting to 9,519,664 Bitcoins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell Wasendorf</span> American fraudster and financier

Russell R. Wasendorf Sr. is the former chairman and chief executive officer of Peregrine Financial Group, also known as PFGBEST, a futures commission merchant that filed for bankruptcy protection in Chicago in July 2012.

The Bitcoin Foundation is an American organization that was formerly a nonprofit corporation. It was founded in September 2012 in an effort to restore the reputation of Bitcoin after several scandals, and to try to promote its development and uptake. The organization is modeled on the Linux Foundation and was funded mainly through grants made by for-profit companies that depend on the bitcoin technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mt. Gox</span> Defunct Bitcoin exchange based in Japan

Mt. Gox was a bitcoin exchange based in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Launched in 2010, it was handling over 70% of all bitcoin transactions worldwide by early 2014, when it abruptly ceased operations amid revelations of its involvement in the loss/theft of hundreds of thousands of bitcoins, then worth hundreds of millions in US dollars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Shrem</span> American entrepreneur

Charles Shrem IV is an American entrepreneur and bitcoin advocate. He co-founded the now-defunct startup company BitInstant, and is a founding member of the Bitcoin Foundation. In 2014 he was sentenced to two years in prison for aiding and abetting the operation of an unlicensed money-transmitting business related to the Silk Road marketplace. He was released from prison in 2016. In 2017, he joined Jaxx and served as its chief operating officer, and founded cryptocurrency advisory CryptoIQ.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of bitcoin</span> Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a digital asset that uses cryptography to control its creation and management rather than relying on central authorities. Originally designed as a medium of exchange, Bitcoin is now primarily regarded as a store of value. The history of bitcoin started with its invention and implementation by Satoshi Nakamoto, who integrated many existing ideas from the cryptography community. Over the course of bitcoin's history, it has undergone rapid growth to become a significant store of value both on- and offline. From the mid-2010s, some businesses began accepting bitcoin in addition to traditional currencies.

Ross William Ulbricht is an American serving life imprisonment for creating and operating the darknet market website Silk Road from 2011 until his arrest in 2013. The site operated as a hidden service on the Tor network and facilitated the sale of narcotics and other illegal products and services. Ulbricht ran the site under the pseudonym "Dread Pirate Roberts", after the fictional character from The Princess Bride.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stellar (payment network)</span> Cryptocurrency

Stellar, or Stellar Lumens, is an open-source, decentralized protocol for digital currency to fiat money low-cost transfers which allows cross-border transactions between any pair of currencies. The Stellar protocol is supported by a Delaware nonprofit corporation, the Stellar Development Foundation, though this organization does not enjoy 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status with the IRS.

CoinDesk is a news site specializing in bitcoin and digital currencies. Founded by Shakil Khan, the firm also provides guides to bitcoin for those new to digital currencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roger Ver</span> Early promoter of Bitcoin (born 1979)

Roger Keith Ver is an early investor in Bitcoin, Bitcoin-related startups and an early promoter of Bitcoin, and sometimes known as Bitcoin Jesus. He now primarily promotes Bitcoin Cash as Ver sees it as fulfilling the intended and original purpose of the "Bitcoin White Paper," first published in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, in which Nakamoto referred to Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BTC-e</span> Cryptocurrency trading platform

BTC-e was a cryptocurrency trading platform primarily serving the Russian market, with servers located in the United States. The U.S. government seized their website and funds in 2017. It was founded in July 2011 by Alexander Vinnik and Aleksandr Bilyuchenko, and as of February 2015 handled around 3% of all Bitcoin exchange volume. The platform was eventually taken over by Russian Orthodox oligarch Konstantin Malofeev, and funds from BTC-e were used for the war in Donbass, under the control of the FSB.

Kraken is a United States–based cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2011. It was one of the first bitcoin exchanges to be listed on Bloomberg Terminal and was valued at US$3 billion in January 2024. The company has been the subject of several regulatory investigations since 2018, and has agreed to cumulative fines of over $30 million.

Jed McCaleb is an American programmer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman and ex-CEO of aerospace startup Vast and a co-founder and the CTO of Stellar. Prior to co-founding Stellar, McCaleb founded and served as the CTO of the company Ripple until 2013. McCaleb is also known for creating the Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange, and the peer-to-peer eDonkey and Overnet networks as well as the eDonkey2000 application.

Cryptocurrency and crime describe notable examples of cybercrime related to theft of cryptocurrencies and some methods or security vulnerabilities commonly exploited. Cryptojacking is a form of cybercrime specific to cryptocurrencies that have been used on websites to hijack a victim's resources and use them for hashing and mining cryptocurrency.

bitFlyer is a private company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and founded in 2014. It operates one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges with 2.5 million users and develops other crypto-related technology.

The transaction malleability problem is a vulnerability in blockchain which can be exploited by altering a cryptographic hash, such as the digital signature used to identify a cryptocurrency transaction. Transaction malleability is considered to be one of the largest ongoing threats to blockchain technology, as it can compromise financial transactions such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions, and cause other issues in the network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arkham Intelligence</span>

Arkham Intelligence is a public data application that enables users to analyze blockchain and cryptocurrency activity. Founded by Miguel Morel in 2020, the company's platform utilizes AI to identify and catalog the owners of blockchain addresses. Its partners include various cryptocurrency and blockchain companies.

References

  1. ↑ Farivar, Cyrus (10 March 2014). "MtGox files for US bankruptcy protection to put lawsuits on hold". Ars Technica.
  2. 1 2 3 "Mark Robert KARPELÈS, 28 ans (TOKYO, CHATILLON SUR MARNE, PARIS)". Copains d'avant – L'Internaute (in French). CCM Benchmark Group. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  3. ↑ King, Leo (26 February 2014). "Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles: 'I am still in Japan'". Forbes. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  4. ↑ Warnock, Eleanor; Mochizuki, Takashi (28 February 2014). "Bitcoin's Mt. Gox: a look at the man in charge". The Wall Street Journal.
  5. ↑ Philippe, Berry (27 February 2014). "MtGox: Mark Karpèles, un "supergeek" français au cœur du scandale bitcoin". 20 Minutes (in French). Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  6. ↑ "Bitcoin rebounds to $57,000 after billions in Mt. Gox refunds fueled a selloff". Quartz. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  7. ↑ "Germans, Mt. Gox, or Feds: Who Caused the Bitcoin Dip?". Financial and Business News | Finance Magnates. 8 July 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  8. ↑ Zielinski, Radek (8 July 2024). "Mt. Gox to repay investors in Bitcoin". ReadWrite. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  9. 1 2 Gautronneau, Vincent (3 January 2014). "Le génie côte-d'orien qui fait trembler le net". Le Journal de Saône et Loire (in French).
  10. ↑ Aubourg, Lucie (11 September 2015). "Former Bitcoin Exchange CEO Charged With Embezzlement in Japan". Vice.
  11. ↑ Mick, Jason (5 March 2014). "Bitcoin King: Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès' History of Arrests, Firings". DailyTech . Archived from the original on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  12. ↑ "US judge freezes assets of Mt.Gox bitcoin exchange boss". CNBC. 12 March 2014.
  13. ↑ David Meyer (31 May 2013). "A Bitcoin Exchange Goes for Respectability". Businessweek.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  14. ↑ "Mt. Gox resigns from Bitcoin Foundation". Reuters. 23 February 2014. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  15. ↑ "Mt. Gox quits Bitcoin Foundation board". PCWorld. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  16. ↑ Rachel Abrams Matthew Goldstein and Hiroko Tabuchi (28 February 2014). "Erosion of Faith Was Death Knell for Mt. Gox". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  17. ↑ Jeffries, Adrianne (1 April 2013). "Barons of Bitcoin". The Verge. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
  18. ↑ "Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S. -- 2nd Update - WSJ.com". online.wsj.com. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014.
  19. ↑ "Mt Gox: The brief reign of bitcoin's top exchange".
  20. ↑ "Apparent Theft at Mt. Gox Shakes Bitcoin World".
  21. ↑ McMillan, Robert. "The Inside Story of Mt. Gox, Bitcoin's $460 Million Disaster". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  22. ↑ Pagliery, Jose (25 February 2014). "As Mt.Gox website is taken down, Bitcoin's future is called into question". CNNMoney.
  23. ↑ Dillet, Romain (23 August 2013). "Feds Seize Another $2.1 Million From Mt. Gox, Adding Up To $5 Million". TechCrunch.
  24. ↑ Hern, Alex (28 February 2014). "MtGox files for bankruptcy in Japan after collapse of bitcoin exchange". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  25. ↑ "Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Files for U.S. Bankruptcy as Death Spiral Continues". WIRED. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  26. ↑ McMillan, Robert. "The Inside Story of Mt. Gox, Bitcoin's $460 Million Disaster". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  27. 1 2 3 "Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles Gets Suspended Jail Term". Bloomberg.com. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  28. ↑ Beattie, Elizabeth (21 October 2024). "The unsinkable Mark Karpeles is willing to give Tokyo another shot". The Japan Times .
  29. ↑ Goldman, Joshua (23 April 2018). "Former Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange CEO Karpeles lands new job". CNET. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
  30. ↑ Tomlin, Bennett (19 December 2023). "Duke Roger Ver becomes finance minister for Joseon". Protos. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  31. ↑ "Former Mt. Gox CEO to launch EllipX crypto exchange in Europe".
  32. ↑ "Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles to Launch New Crypto Exchange This Month". Blockhead. 4 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.
  33. ↑ Farivar, Cyrus (1 August 2014). "Why the head of Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange should be in jail". Ars Technica . Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  34. ↑ Alonso, Pierre (1 August 2014). "En France, le passé trouble de l'ancien " baron du bitcoin "" [Old bitcoin baron's old trouble in France]. Le Monde (in French). Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  35. ↑ Knight, Sophie (22 April 2014). "At Mt. Gox bitcoin hub, 'geek' CEO sought both control and escape". Reuters .
  36. ↑ "Mt. Gox founder won't appear in U.S. for questions about bankruptcy case". Reuters. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  37. ↑ "Mt. Gox founder won't attend US bankruptcy hearing". CNET. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  38. ↑ John Ribeiro (15 April 2014). "Mt. Gox seeks postponement of CEO's U.S. court deposition". Computerworld. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  39. ↑ "BBC News - MtGox chief refuses to go to Bitcoin bankruptcy hearing". BBC News. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
  40. ↑ "MtGox bitcoin chief Mark Karpeles arrested in Japan". BBC News. 1 August 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  41. ↑ Jonathan Soble (1 August 2015). "Mark Karpeles, Chief of Bankrupt Bitcoin Exchange, Is Arrested in Tokyo". The New York Times . Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  42. ↑ "Mt. Gox bitcoin firm head arrested". The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun . 1 August 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  43. ↑ "Mt Gox Bitcoin exchange's Karpeles avoids jail time in Japan". AP News. 15 March 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  44. ↑ "Chief of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox denies embezzlement as trial opens". Reuters. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
  45. ↑ Dooley, Ben (15 March 2019). "Bitcoin Tycoon Who Oversaw Mt. Gox Implosion Gets Suspended Sentence". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  46. ↑ "MtGox bitcoin founder learns fate on embezzlement charges". France 24. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  47. ↑ Pham, Sherisse (15 March 2019). "Former Mt. Gox chief Mark Karpeles acquitted of most charges in major bitcoin case". CNN. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
  48. ↑ Paul, Kari (15 January 2015). "Defense in Silk Road Trial Says Mt. Gox CEO Was the Real Dread Pirate Roberts". Vice. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  49. ↑ Jeong, Sarah. "Was Mt. Gox CEO The Dread Pirate Roberts? The DHS Once Believed It". Forbes. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  50. ↑ Koebler, Jason (16 January 2015). "Mt. Gox CEO Denies Silk Road Involvement: 'I Am Not Dread Pirate Roberts'". Vice. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
  51. ↑ Mullin, Joe (4 February 2015). "Ulbricht guilty in Silk Road online drug-trafficking trial". Ars Technica. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.