The crypto world has had its fair share of drama in the past couple of years but one of the most significant events is the theft of 850,000 bitcoins from Mt. Gox which was once the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. As the Chief Executive of the exchange at the time, Mark Karpeles was held responsible for the loss of the bitcoins as well as the exchange’s bankruptcy. While the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange recovered 200,000 bitcoins, it did not help the situation with Karpeles facing criminal charges and being jailed for nearly a year. An ongoing investigation linked a United Kingdom-based company to the theft of the remaining 650,000 bitcoins.
Karpeles is still facing criminal charges in Japan and thus he is not allowed to leave the country. Regardless, the infamous ex-CEO has been trying to start over with a clean slate.
“I have no way to be sure that I’ll still be able to work in one year, two years. So I cannot really get a normal full-time job”, he said in March in an interview with Fortune.
He has previously confirmed that he has been juggling a number of IT-related jobs that revolve mostly around cryptocurrency and networking. However, his most recent revelation is by far the most interesting. Karpeles has been appointed to a C-level position as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for London Trust Media, the world’s leading virtual private network (VPN) service provider.
London Trust Media doubles up as an investment company, particularly in cryptocurrency – it was an early investor in Zcash, a privacy-focused digital coin, and also backs Purse, a startup that allows its users to purchase items on Amazon using bitcoin.
“Mark fought and fell. And although he fell, his skills, experience, and know-how unarguably continue to exist. And so, bringing in a seasoned warrior makes perfect sense to me. I am more than willing to give a second chance to Mark in this fight’s critical hour. I wouldn’t dare say that the person who architected the Titanic should never again architect another ship,” said London Trust Media co-founder and former head of Mt. Gox’s North American operations, Andrew Lee.
Karpeles will be working remotely from Japan since, as mentioned earlier, he is still facing criminal charges and thus he cannot legally leave the country. Also, even though his role as London Trust Media CTO will involve oversight over the companies cryptocurrency-related interests, Karpeles has made it clear that he has lost faith in bitcoin and wants very little to do with the cryptocurrency industry.
“The only thing I’m touching related to cryptocurrency is how to solve this bankruptcy – Nothing more,” Karpeles stated.
“Bitcoin right now is, I believe, doomed. Its original promise of being the future of currency is clearly out of reach.”
