Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, has recently clarified that his business isn’t blockchain-based, and that it isn’t new as it’s been around for three years and already has over 500 clients.
Speaking to TheBlock, Karpeles clarified a recent report published by the Associated Press (AP) that several news outlets, including CryptoGlobe, picked up on. The report claimed the Frenchman launched a “new” business “around the same computer technology that led to his legal troubles,” which came as a result of Mt. Gox’s downfall.
The business clarified that when he spoke at Japans Foreign Correspondents’ Club, he also promoted a book that documents his downfall, and that his talk mentioned cryptocurrencies before he moved on to the company, Tristan Technologies.
His company, however, doesn’t currently work with blockchain technology, although Karpeles noted that in the future it may “do things with the blockchain.” He was quoted as saying:
We’re working on new cloud solutions but with absolutely nothing on blockchain right now…This is a technology company. I don’t think it would make sense at this point to work in the blockchain and crypto industry.
Karpeles reportedly further mentioned plans of building “legal-tech solutions” and working on an “operating system [that] gets rid of the concept of installation and just runs the software.” The firm, he added, will “improved people’s lives a lot” with technology that’ll adapt to them.
Per the former CEO of Mt. Gox, his business isn’t net, but has been around since 2016 and, since then, has already gotten 500 clients. His firm is reportedly competing with giants like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon while giving Japan a native option when it comes to cloud services.
As covered, Karpeles has been living in Japan since 2009 and in 2015 was arrested after Mt. Gox collapsed in the aftermath of a security breach that saw hackers steal over 850,000 bitcoins from it. He was cleared of embezzlement and fraud allegations, but was convicted on charges of manipulating electronic data, but is appealing the conviction.
