Mt. Gox collapse
Once the dominant Bitcoin exchange, Tokyo-based Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after about 850,000 BTC (worth roughly $450M at the time) went missing. A security firm concluded most coins were stolen from its hot wallet over years.
Also known as: Mt. Gox, Mt Gox, MtGox, Mark Karpeles, Mark Karpelès
Summary
Mt. Gox was a Tokyo-based exchange that, at its peak, handled a majority of global Bitcoin transactions. In February 2014 it suspended trading and filed for bankruptcy after reporting that about 850,000 BTC (worth roughly $450 million at the time) were missing; about 200,000 BTC were later located. [1][2]
Findings
Security firm WizSec concluded that "most or all of the missing bitcoins were stolen straight out of the Mt. Gox hot wallet over time, beginning in late 2011", indicating a years-long undetected theft rather than a single event. [1]
Outcome
CEO Mark Karpelès was arrested in Japan in 2015. In 2019 a Japanese court found him guilty of falsifying data but acquitted him of embezzlement related to the missing bitcoins. [1][2] Creditor repayments have proceeded through a long-running civil rehabilitation process. [2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
People & entities involved
Sources (2)
- Mt. Gox (overview) — Wikipedia
- Mt. Gox Explained: History, 2014 Collapse, and Current Status — Investopedia
See also
- Loci (LOCIcoin)TokensA 2017–2018 ICO for 'LOCIcoin' tied to the InnVenn IP-search platform. The SEC charged Loci and CEO John Wise with fraud for raising $7.6M on false claims about revenue, headcount, and user base; Wise also misused investor funds. Settled with a $7.6M penalty and an officer/director bar.
- Blockchain Terminal (BCT)TokensA 2017–2018 ICO (BCT tokens, ~$30M) for a 'Blockchain Terminal' — a Bloomberg-style crypto trading terminal. The SEC and DOJ said convicted ex-hedge-funder Boaz Manor secretly ran it under a fake identity ('Shaun MacDonald'), using associate Edith Pardo as a front, and lied about the product's adoption.
- Crowd Machine (CMCT)Tokens
This page was last updated on Jun 8, 2026. View revision history.