Mark Karpeles Gox ICO to revive the exchange

[VitKoyn]

In a blog post published by Mark Karpeles https://blog.magicaltux.net/article/MtGox-Bankruptcy detailed possible avenues for reviving Mt Gox, the once-dominant Japanese bitcoin exchange that collapsed amid allegations of fraud and mismanagement in early 2014. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of bitcoin – at then-current prices – were feared lost, though ultimately 202,000 BTC were retained as assets, under the custody of a trustee.

Mark Karpeles:
"Launch an ICO to raise money to hypothetically revive MtGox. This sounds more challenging, both legally and because there is no guarantee of raising enough to revive MtGox. In case there is not enough raised it could still be locked to be distributed to creditors, which would be better than nothing."

"Should anyone have 245 million USD sitting around and want to purchase MtGox, just drop me an email," he wrote.

Source: https://www.coindesk.com/gox-ico-ceo-karpeles-floats-token-sale-revive-bitcoin-exchange/

The question is Do you think Mark Karpeles deserves to be trusted again? Would you invest? Thoughts?

This is a big joke. Why would I trust my money to a guy who stole million dollars worth of Bitcoin from MtGox investors. If he wants to revive the exchange why not use his own money. He does not deserve the trust of investors. lol

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[squatz1]

Something like this isn't going to happen, the trust in MT GOX is gone. There's possibly no way that something like this is going to work, the people's trust has been removed and if they know that Mark is around they're not going to trust the exchange/token sale in the least.

But I don't see a need for MT GOX being able to function, with the above news and with the fact that they want 245m to start this up - is Mark out of his mind?

[davis196]

He wants to launch an ICO to rise money just to pay his creditors?
This is not an investment,it`s more like charity.I think that Mark Karpeles is a victim of his own dream to be a crypto millioniare again.He just have to leave the crypto world and find some ordinary "nine to five" job.
The MT GOX brand is a part of bitcoin`s history.

[Quickseller]

The MtGox brand is more of a liability than an asset. If a group of people wanted to raise this much money to run an exchange, they would start an exchange under their own brand.

Also, the customer of MtGox are unlikely to continue using the MtGox exchange if it were to reopen today for a number of reasons, one of which is that they likely have since moved on to using other (more professional) exchanges.


I personally think it would make the most sense for the Gox trustee to value the BTC, BCH, and BTG at a certain price point and allow customers to receive each of these assets in amounts up to the value of their claim. Once this is done, remaining claims (if any) can be paid out from the sale of the remaining (if any) BTC, BCH and BTG.

[Wind_FURY]

Mark Karpeles should be the last man that should be trusted to start his own ICO. If he starts one and it ends up being successful, then either the legal system has failed or it shows how disruptive decentralized token platforms are.

We have not seen one ICO founder behind bars yet. Why is that?

[Quickseller]

We have not seen one ICO founder behind bars yet. Why is that?

His case is pending, it has been for quite some time now.

[OvidiuOancea]

Good moment to see the trust in this brand 

[wisdomcn]

One thing in terms of investment is trust, for investors to invest in one's investment trust have to be build first. Because when a person lost his or her reputation I tell you is very difficult to regain it back especially when it involves people investing their money. Many investor wants to invest where their money will be safe.   

[nappoleon]

He wants a piece of the ICO action, lol. Again, only uninformed people will fall for this. the Gox brand will never recover. If he wants to continue with the exchange business at least change the name. Either, it would be a miracle if decent investors want to do business with him.

[CARrency]

That is the point here, why would he need other people's money if he have his own. MtGox is nowhere is to be trusted since it proves to us how bad it is in the future.

Yes it might be great in the past but we all know how people and traders think when someone done a mistake, it will be always be a mistake to them and even if that people try to change his ways, the one thing that the people will see to him is the mistake that he's done. Poor guy.

[jseverson]

I know the jury is still out for Mark Karpeles, which is why I won't be so quick to judge that he's had malevolent intentions for the start. It is a fact, however, that he lost a LOT of his customers' money. Even if I were to believe that he wasn't corrupt, the collapse of Mt. Gox just leads me to the conclusion that he isn't competent enough to keep his company afloat. I would bring my business elsewhere.

That being said, Mt. Gox is a failed brand, and would inevitably be linked forever to its infamous collapse. It would be beyond foolish to reuse it. People will stay away even if the original actors weren't involved anymore.

[krauzzer02]

One of my Japanese friend was using this Exchange the so called Mt. Gox last 2013 she used to have 18 btc there until the exchange was suspended last 2014. I feel sorry for her because that amount of btc this days is almost $130,000 plus she regretted to store all of her bitcoin in an exchange in the first place so she taught me that always store large amount of btc into cold storage and risk a little in a exchange. For Mt. Gox good luck in the ICO for sure people learned their lesson and they will not trust it anymore. Most of the btc was stolen from their hot wallet no wonder why that large amount of money was just stolen.

[LoyceV]

Why would Mark Karpeles need $245 million? Five days ago this was published: Mt. Gox Head Mark Karpeles May Gain Almost $1 Billion Despite Bankruptcy.

I don't know how they got away with this. Apparently, instead of paying back with whatever was available in the bankrupt company, he waited a few years until the remaining Bitcoins were worth much more than he owed people.
Basically, he got a loan in Bitcoins that he can pay back in dollars at the price it had in 2014!

[ReindeerOnMe]

Why would Mark Karpeles need $245 million? Five days ago this was published: Mt. Gox Head Mark Karpeles May Gain Almost $1 Billion Despite Bankruptcy.

I don't know how they got away with this. Apparently, instead of paying back with whatever was available in the bankrupt company, he waited a few years until the remaining Bitcoins were worth much more than he owed people.
Basically, he got a loan in Bitcoins that he can pay back in dollars at the price it had in 2014!

With the price tripled the price in 2014, he can pay back those people without any problems, it is not just that but he can still have some profit through it, he is really smart.

I wonder why he's selling off his site now? Maybe he's conscience?

[Wind_FURY]

Good moment to see the trust in this brand 

Hahaha! Thanks for making me laugh today. Mt.Gox's brand does have that historic value behind it. All we need now is Roger Ver saying that the "new" Mt.Gox will be the safest exchange to keep your Bitcoins in, and the "reformed" Mark Karpeles is the most dependable and trustworthy exchange owner.

[Raimy]

This whole thing about Mt Gox seems like a joke to me.

I wasn't around when it crashed, but according to one article two things stood out to me:

1) Mt Gox owes approximately 245 million to people who used his exchange (cash value of at the time Bitcoin's price)
2) A bankruptcy trustee is in possession of over 200,000 Mt Gox Bitcoins.

At today's rate 200,000 X $8,000 seems to be worth $1,600,000,000, that's 1.6 Billion dollars!

So that is almost 6.5 times (in cash value) what the original investors are owed. While it still sucks they didn't get their original bitcoin back, they can at least make something if the trustee simply sold off all the bitcoins and started paying people back.

Perfect example of why you don't want to get government involved in bitcoin, as by the time they act that money will have all but disappeared after the government fines Mt Gox and then all the layers get paid, etc.

[jseverson]

Why would Mark Karpeles need $245 million? Five days ago this was published: Mt. Gox Head Mark Karpeles May Gain Almost $1 Billion Despite Bankruptcy.

I don't know how they got away with this. Apparently, instead of paying back with whatever was available in the bankrupt company, he waited a few years until the remaining Bitcoins were worth much more than he owed people.
Basically, he got a loan in Bitcoins that he can pay back in dollars at the price it had in 2014!

What the hell? That's ridiculous. It doesn't seem he performed some legal way to slime out of it either. Japanese bankruptcy laws simply state that their liabilities will be dictated by the price the time the proceedings were initiated. I would be pretty pissed if someone else was able to to reap the growth of my investments after defrauding me. Is this why Karpeles is trying to make some noise again?

If he comes out of this mess unscathed, it would be even more unwise to trust him. You never know what kind of stuff he'll pull if he gets away with his bullshit.

[LoyceV]

What the hell? That's ridiculous. ~ I would be pretty pissed if someone else was able to to reap the growth of my investments after defrauding me.

I still can't wrap my head around how this is legally possible. He would have never earned that much if his company didn't lose 650,000 Bitcoins at the time.
Even worse: this could encourage others to do the same: instead of pulling an exit-scam in which you just run with the money, you "lose" some, file for bankruptcy, and wait until you've reaced a large profit from the remaining Bitcoins!

Basically, he got a loan in Bitcoins that he can pay back in dollars at the price it had in 2014!

Let me quote myself here: who would lend someone $100 million now to buy Bitcoins, to be paid back $100 million many years in the future if and only if the price of Bitcoin goes up? That's what Mark Karpeles got away with!

[illinest]

This is a big joke. Why would I trust my money to a guy who stole million dollars worth of Bitcoin from MtGox investors. If he wants to revive the exchange why not use his own money. He does not deserve the trust of investors. lol

He did specifically say that he wouldn't be involved in the management of the exchange. Entirely new people would be brought in.

But I'm not sure I understand what the ICO money pays for. It's just a bailout, more or less? The idea seems pretty farfetched. The final sentence in the blog pretty much sums it up...... anyone feel like dropping $245 million in Mark Karpeles' lap? Well, go ahead and get in touch with him. He's waiting.

[salihno71]

I think it would take a mad man to trust anything related to this failure. It would be smart to stay away from anything related to MtGox. It carries too much of bad history in multiple aspects.