In his first interview since Japanese police launched their investigation into his bankrupt exchange, former Mt. Gox CEO, Mark Karpeles told The Daily Beast that Bitcoin’s worst enemies are the people that love it, and predicts that the Mt. Gox collapse was just the tip of an approaching iceberg of disaster.
At the moment, the worst enemies of bitcoin are the people who love bitcoin. And, I think we will see another Mt. Gox next year, and the next year. And my opinion is that each time we will see that, the losses will increase.
During the lengthy interview, the embattled CEO, talked about a wide range of topics, from his love of baking apple pie, to his early days as a three-year-old computer programmer. He also reveals that although he never finished high school, his mind is like a computer that thinks only in numbers.
When asked which question he most wished a reporter would have asked, he responded, “I wished that someone had asked me how I’m doing. I think everyone sees me as “Mr. Mt. Gox,” and not enough like a human being. Although I don’t always agree with what human beings think, or the way they react, it’s sometimes disappointing.”
Karpeles also expressed the desire that he won’t find himself like so many other innocent people who are routinely framed and arrested by the Japanese police.
It is, however, a recurrent problem and a fact that the Japanese police arrest innocent people and make them confess to crimes that that they didn’t commit. So I simply hope that they won’t do anything crazy. That is something that is not guaranteed, though.
Mt. Gox was a Bitcoin exchange based in Tokyo, Japan. It was launched in July 2010, and by 2013 was handling 70% of all Bitcoin transactions. In February 2014, the Mt. Gox exchange suspended trading, closed its website and exchange service, and filed for bankruptcy protection from its creditors.
There is currently a police investigation into whether there was any criminal wrongdoing leading up to the exchange’s collapse. A full transcript of this latest interview by Nathalie-Kyoko can be found here.
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