When Mt. Gox collapsed last year, Karpeles claimed that there had been a massive hack or leak of company Bitcoin funds on the order of $500 million.
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Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of the collapsed bitcoin exchange MtGox, was arrested Saturday by Japanese police over his alleged connection with the loss of bitcoins worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
However, soon after, the company said it had recovered 200,000 bitcoins – worth about $56 million at today’s rates – from an old-format wallet used before June 2011.
Mark Karpeles, 30, is suspected of accessing the exchange’s computer system in February 2013 and inflating his account, Japanese police said.
TV footage showed Karpeles, wearing a T-shirt and baseball cap, being led away by about half a dozen investigators.
Karpeles’ arrest was reportedly linked to the disappearance of around 750,000 bitcoins of the exchange’s clients and 100,000 owned by Mt. Gox. This group is open to IT Leaders, MIS & IT Managers, Network & Infrastructure Managers who share insights, discuss challenges & wins and keep abreast of cutting edge technologies.
Mt. Gox’s bitcoin transaction website was launched in March 2011 by Karpeles.
Regulators have scrambled to respond to the use of Bitcoins, with the European Banking Authority last year calling on the region’s banks not to deal in virtual currencies until rules are developed to stop them being abused. Experts also said it might be hard to take action because of the absence of laws over virtual currencies.
The Bitcoins which were once making news headlines and new highs in 2014 were completely shaken out of stupor when Mt. Gox happened.
The Mt. Gox debacle served to highlight the perils of bitcoin transactions.
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Some of the coins that he said were lost may not have existed, the official said.
