Ex-Mt. Gox CEO to right wrongs with new exchange EllipX

Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpelès has announced a new cryptocurrency exchange to “fix what went wrong” at the bankrupt Bitcoin trading platform.

Speaking at Korea Blockchain Week 2024, Karpelès said the new crypto exchange, called EllipX, will be based in Poland. Karpelès added that EllipX will also comply with the European Union’s groundbreaking Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation.

EllipX has plans to expand beyond its European debut, according to the former CEO of Mt. Gox. The platform will also pay homage to the bankrupt Bitcoin (BTC) exchange by offering Mt. Gox users a 50% discount on trading fees.

Karpelès told attendees that his new exchange aims to take advantage of new tools that were previously unavailable following the Mt. Gox hacks in 2011 and 2014. The plan, Karpelès explained, is to focus on transparency at EllipX.

Despite receiving death threats at the time, Karpelès also spoke of the outpouring of support and outpouring of support from Bitcoin advocates for his return to web3.

Karpelès returns as Mt. Gox completes refunds

Karpelès’ introduction of EllipX comes as Mt. Gox is finalizing repayments to creditors. The bankrupt Bitcoin exchange owed around $9 billion in crypto to affected users. Mt. Gox paid out just over $6 billion and likely has around $3 billion in digital assets set aside to complete the repayments.

The famous Bitcoin exchange was founded during Bitcoin’s infancy. Shortly after meeting the company’s founder, Jed McCaleb, Karpelès acquired the company and took over its three-dozen client base.

In less than three years, the platform grew to 60,000 users and eventually 1 million. What seemed like a promising startup was quickly brought down by a series of hacks that brought down the exchange.

Bad actors embezzled more than 950,000 BTC from the exchange, beginning a decade-long path to resolution. Ten years later, the crypto exchange is reintegrating users and Karpelès has returned to Bitcoin.