By
Takashi Mochizuki
and
Eleanor Warnock
Mark Karpelès, the head of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, spoke to The Wall Street Journal’s Takashi Mochizuki and Eleanor Warnock on Thursday night in his home on the top floor of a 33-story building in Tokyo’s Meguro neighborhood. It was his first media interview since a news conference when Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in February. Here are some excerpts:
Q: What are you working on lately?
A: While cooperating with a court-appointed trustee on the Mt. Gox case, I try hard to keep my other company, Tibanne, alive.
Q: How many workers do you have now, and what’s their feeling?
A: We cut the size to 12 from 30. They are frustrated and worried about what will happen to the company. I’m upset with myself that I couldn’t protect my employees.
Q: Any messages to Mt. Gox creditors?
A: All I can say is I am deeply sorry. But I did what I could, and I swear I haven’t been doing anything too luxurious. Some people say I still own bitcoins or have a yacht, but that’s not true. If they accept me, I would like to attend a weekly meet-up of Tokyo bitcoin users when things settle down and explain what happened in my own words.
Q: Can’t you now?
A: The police are investigating the case so I won’t be able to say much. But if asked, I’m willing to show any bitcoin entrepreneurs how I did it wrong, so they won’t repeat the same mistake.
Q: What were your mistakes?
A: Security. Not just security on the system, but in the office. We had some cases where a stranger sneaked in and took things away. We also have at least one former employee stealing the company’s data.
Q: So malleability attacks weren’t the only cause of the bitcoin loss?
A: I can’t disclose much due to the police investigation, but there were also physical attacks.
Q: What else did you do wrong?
A: Management. I was too busy and couldn’t lay out an adequate corporate structure. I wish I had five of me, as I was too busy with meetings with banks, lawyers and business partners. That was all painful, I wish I had more time to do engineer-type of work.
Q: Why didn’t you hire experienced professionals?
A: We tried, but we didn’t have money and also often they turned us down. A former Financial Services Agency bureaucrat approached us once last year, but he declined our offer at the end.
Q: When did you find out that the bitcoins were gone, and how did you feel about it?
A: A few days before we filed for bankruptcy. And we learned as we checked our storage when repairing the system to deal with malleability attacks. I always worried about ‘What if all the bitcoins were gone?’ Since that actually happened, I have gone through many sleepless nights. Scared, frustrated and angry—-so many emotions were occupying my mind.
Q: Do you believe Mt. Gox should be liquidated, or taken over by someone?
A: I wish someone would buy the exchange, as that’s in the interest of creditors. But any buyers should use their own money to rehabilitate the exchange, not Mt. Gox’s.
Q: Do you regret that you purchased Mt. Gox?
A: Half-yes. I learned a lot, but I lost a lot.
Q: What’s your view on the future of bitcoin?
A: I believe decentralized currency has the potential to change the world. But bitcoin itself must become much better. Right now, it is so easy to use it for illegal activities, such as money laundering and drug trading.
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