To say that there’s anger and hatred toward Mark Karpeles — the former CEO of the Mt. Gox exchange which collapsed earlier this year — is a vast understatement.
Under his watch, about $500 million worth of bitcoins went missing, causing thousands of investors that trusted Mt. Gox to lose their money. Some lost life savings.
So it’s no surprise that Karpeles has been keeping in the shadows in the months following the Gox collapse. In a newly-published interview with The Daily Beast, Karpeles says he feels his life is at risk.
Users on social media haven’t been shy about telling Karpeles how they feel. Some have even thrown death threats his way.
But according to Mark, part of the reason he was the only director of Mt. Gox was to protect his employees from backlash should anything have hit the fan. He says:
[blockquote style=”2″]I wanted to be as much as possible the only ‘sekininsha,’ or ‘responsible person’ in this job.[/blockquote]
Despite feeling at risk, Karpeles is certain that Japan is the place to be to maintain his own security.
[blockquote style=”2″]I can’t really take an airplane at the moment. I am more secure in Japan, and if I want to travel abroad I have to get a permit from the Japanese court that put Mt. [/blockquote]
Of course, Karpeles isn’t talking about Mt. Gox. When I communicated with him last month regarding the opening up of his new web hosting business venture, he told me the topic was off-limits.
If you have a few spare minutes, you can read the entire interview on The Daily Beast by following this link.