Former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles is shilling a cat-themed meme coin known as “Chief Pussy” after a gaggle of Pump Fan merchants satisfied him to make use of his long-deceased cat Tibane to advertise the meme coin.
Pump Enjoyable account “w$kapex2” created the Solana-based token 9 days in the past and managed to be a magnet for Mr. Karpeles yesterday after providing a share of the token and 100% of the buying and selling charges.
Karpeles stated he was shocked that folks would commerce tokens primarily based on his cat, saying, “I do know it is in all probability short-lived, however it’s attention-grabbing to see the way it’s taking place.”
Learn extra: Who owns MtGox’s rights to billions of {dollars} in Bitcoin?
He promoted the token on his X account, the place he stated he likes to see individuals study in regards to the MtGox incident and the “lore” surrounding it (like tales about pet cats and Russian hackers).
As for the way the payment will probably be used, he stated, “We plan to donate a portion of the payment to analysis into CKD in cats in order that different cats and their house owners do not should undergo the identical factor.”
Karpeles endorsed the token on Wednesday and publicly endorsed it on Thursday, after which the token soared 2,594% to a market cap of $1.8 million.
Nonetheless, since that top, in typical meme coin trend, it has fallen virtually 89% in at some point, leaving its market cap at $246,000.
The worth motion of “$ChiefPussy” seems to be pulling the rug from below you.
From then on, he continued to burn the tokens he obtained.
The connection between Mark Karpeles’ cats and Mt.Gox goes again a great distance
Karpeles acquired cryptocurrency change MtGox from founder Jed McCaleb in 2011. Three years later, the change, one of many largest of its sort on the time, declared chapter after shedding tons of of hundreds of Bitcoins ($BTC).
Two Russian hackers, Alexei Vilyuchenko and Alexander Werner, stole not less than $647,000. $BTC Through the lifetime of the change.
In a single chapter submitting, the change introduced it had misplaced 750,000 customers. $BTC and your individual 100,000 $BTCtotaling $480 million in 2014.
Karpeles was discovered responsible of 1 rely of information falsification and obtained a suspended sentence, avoiding jail time.
Evidently, my cat Tibane was with me. A number of days after taking up Mount Gox, Karpeles instructed the story of how the cat survived Japan’s large earthquake.
The corporate he purchased MtGox from was known as Tibanne Co. Ltd.
Learn extra: Relaxation in peace, Mr. Gox, the crypto-trading hamster who beat Bitcoin and Warren Buffett.
Tibane took a long-haul flight from Paris to Japan, which required him to correctly tip and challenge his personal passport exhibiting that he had been vaccinated.
Chainstone Labs CEO Bruce Fenton claimed in 2019 that Tibane was additionally a member of the Bitcoin Basis, recalling that Karpeles had purchased the cat a lifetime membership equal to his personal.
Fenton added that there are about 50 members. $BTCa determine equal to $4.1 million as we speak.
Mt Gox has been in chapter proceedings for years since its collapse and claims to have repaid round 19,500 collectors as of October final yr.
Nonetheless, many collectors haven’t but been repaid, and Mt. Gox has prolonged the compensation deadline till October 2026.
In 2024, Karpeles launched one other cryptocurrency change known as EllipX, and in 2023 he was given the title of “Duke of Joseon” by the so-called “cyber nation.”
