Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles Launches New Crypto Exchange

Mark Karpeles, former CEO of Mt. Gox, is set to launch a new crypto exchange named EllipX later this month in Poland, focusing on transparency and user-friendliness. He discussed the launch in an interview at the Korea Blockchain Week event in Seoul, South Korea.

New Venture

Karpeles aims to ensure consumer transparency, particularly for newcomers in the crypto space. He expressed concerns about well-known exchanges, stating, “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.” To promote transparency, EllipX will compartmentalize different operational aspects of the platform.

Karpeles compares the structure of EllipX to that of the New York Stock Exchange, where one entity oversees market trading while brokers in various countries provide localized services. Additionally, the movement of crypto will occur through clearing houses like BitGo.

Given recent events like the collapse of the FTX exchange, transparency is crucial for investors. Karpeles intends to share technical data with customers and conduct audits by third parties to ensure transparency.

User-Friendliness

To attract users, Karpeles plans to leverage simplicity with the EllipX Wallet, which utilizes multi-party computation technology for user convenience.

Furthermore, Karpeles is launching Ungox, a non-profit organization to rate crypto projects and exchanges.

Mt. Gox Afterthoughts

Karpeles mentioned special discounts on trading fees for Mt. Gox NFT holders and free NFTs for all Mt. Gox customers from 2010 to 2014.

Established in 2010, Mt. Gox was the largest Bitcoin exchange until a major security breach in 2014 resulted in the loss of at least 850,000 BTC. After a decade of working on repayment, Karpeles noted some former customers are satisfied due to Bitcoin’s increased value. He believes improvements in blockchain technology and security measures would prevent similar incidents today.