Bitcoin is an innovative payment network proposed by Satoshi Nakamoto, a software developer. It is virtual money that uses peer-to-peer technology to operate collectively. There is no central authority or banks. Bitcoin can be used to buy things electronically and traded digitally.
Conventional currency has been based on gold or silver. But bitcoin isn’t based on gold; it’s based on mathematics.
Bitcoin has several important features that set it apart from government-backed currencies.
Mark Karpeles, 30, is the current CEO of MtGox. He is alleged to have falsified data resulting in the loss of bitcoins worth $387m (£247m, €351m) last February. He claimed it was due to a computer bug but later filed for bankruptcy. In March 2014, a month after filing for bankruptcy, the firm said it had found 200,000 lost bitcoins worth around $116m – in an old digital wallet from 2011.
That brings the total number of bitcoins the firm lost down to 650,000 from 850,000 which is 7% of all the bitcoins in existence.
As a consequence of the alleged events he was arrested in Japan.
