Lawrence Damilola
Mark Karpeles, former CEO of the defunct Mt. Gox cryptocurrency exchange, has announced plans to launch a new crypto trading platform called EllipX later this month. Based in Poland, the exchange will initially focus on serving European users, with a potential for global expansion.
Karpeles, who will oversee the technical aspects of the platform as Chief Technology Officer, explained on Wednesday during the Korea Blockchain Week event in Seoul, South Korea, “Mt. Gox was based in Poland, so I do know it [well] as a country.”
EllipX aims to comply with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations. Karpeles has stressed the importance of transparency, stating, “To the rightfully skeptical crypto investors, the exchange intends to share technical data with customers to show full transparency, on top of audits on each separate entity by third parties.”
I'm thrilled to announce.. @EllipXCrypto
— Mark Karpelès (@MagicalTux) August 23, 2024
With the goal of making crypto more accessible and safer, the first step comes with the EllipX Wallet, a MPC wallet that splits private keys in 3 parts between yourself, your device and EllipX.
Karpeles also discussed how EllipX will adopt a unique structure to ensure transparency. He noted that most exchanges today combine brokerage, trading, and storage functions under one entity, which can obscure operations. “Typically, an exchange today is doing both the broker side dealing with customers and the matching side and the storage side, storing crypto and fiat,” he said.
EllipX will instead compartmentalize these functions, similar to the structure of the New York Stock Exchange but adapted for cryptocurrencies. “What I see for the future is to have one entity that deals with the trading on the market, and brokers located in different countries providing localized service, while the trading entity will only deal with trading,” Karpeles stated during an interview with The Block.
Despite the notorious collapse of Mt. Gox, Karpeles has managed to maintain a presence in the crypto world. In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), he announced an initiative to reconnect with former Mt. Gox users by offering them a discount of at least 50% on trading fees at EllipX.
This discount is linked to non-fungible tokens (NFTs) released for Mt. Gox users a few years ago. However, Karpeles mentioned that only a small portion of the million affected users have claimed these NFTs. He expressed a desire to engage with those who lost assets in the Mt. Gox collapse, stating that this gesture could help in reestablishing trust. Karpeles also reflected on the aftermath of the Mt. Gox collapse, mentioning he received death threats but noted, “the attitude toward him within the crypto community has softened in recent years.”
Karpeles believes the industry needs more transparency and is setting up EllipX as an example. He said, “If you look at the top 100 exchanges, the first few ones would be very large ones like Binance, Coinbase … But as you go down the list after five, six names, you won’t even know which companies are running the exchanges.” He hopes that other platforms will follow suit in prioritizing transparency. He added, “By creating this kind of transparency and this kind of environment, other exchanges are hopefully likely to follow. Then transparency will become standard across the industry.”
EllipX will rely on third-party companies like BitGo to clear operations and separate them from brokers. Karpeles explained, “The actual movement of hands-on crypto will happen through clearing houses, basically companies like BitGo, that would still be separated from brokers.”
Mt. Gox was once the world’s largest crypto trading platform. However, it filed for bankruptcy late in February 2014 after a series of heists that saw up to 950,000 bitcoins — worth upward of $58 billion at today’s prices — vanished.
Mt. Gox attributed the loss of bitcoins to a flaw within the cryptocurrency’s system. According to Mt. Gox, while users encountered partial transaction alerts upon logging into the exchange, it’s possible that hackers were secretly transferring funds from their accounts due to this vulnerability.
Since its collapse, the exchange has recovered approximately 141,686 BTC from bankruptcy proceedings, with around 59,000 BTC already distributed to creditors through designated exchanges. The repayments are made in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
Lawrence does not hold any crypto asset. This article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. The Shib Magazine and The Shib Daily are the official media and publications of the Shiba Inu cryptocurrency project. Readers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial adviser before making any investment decisions.
