The drama which has unfolded with Moolah and its scandal-plagued CEO Alex Green has overshadowed what may be one of the most important and traumatic events of 2014 in the Bitcoin world; the collapse of MintPal.
The company has had a difficult year so far, having been at the centre of a controversy after a hack emptied out a large amount of VeriCoin. 30% of the world’s supply, in fact.
However, there seemed to be hope when Moolah acquired the struggling exchange. This was back when Alex Green’s reputation among the Dogecoin community was still respectable.
Moolah had planned on re-launching MintPal with a new and improved service. As a result, the exchange was taken offline for a time. Its relaunch was plagued with technical issues, which led to its removal once again.
However, after Green’s alleged fraudulent activities began to come to light, the future of MintPal came into question.
Missing Funds
Around 3700 BTC are missing from MintPal’s coffers, about $1.5 million USD at current rates.
MintPal’s primary shareholders have been left to clean up the mess, and it isn’t pretty. Eoghan Hayes, a former employee of Moopay, Green’s parent company which controlled MintPal, said that “what happened to MintPal is the equivalent of a nuclear bomb being dropped on a city, and a two-man hazard crew consisting of Mike and Ferdous (MintPal’s primary shareholders) are now in charge of the clean up.”
Meanwhile, Alex Green/Ryan Kennedy is the only person with access to MintPal’s funds. MintPal said as much in a tweet:
We do not know Ryan's current location, and he is unfortunately the only one with access to customer funds.
— MintPal (@MintPalExchange) October 19, 2014
MintPal said in a tweet that they have “reached out to law enforcement”, though it remains to be seen what can be done.
Mt. Gox All Over Again?
Dogecoin co-founder Jackson Palmer has called MintPal’s collapse “essentially the new Mt. Gox”, and others have echoed the sentiment. While the amount of funds lost in MintPal isn’t as enormous as what was lost in Mt. Gox, it’s doubtless that many MintPal users were seriously hurt by the collapse.
The collapse of MintPal, along with Moolah and Bitcoin Trader, has marked a rough week for the Bitcoin community.
As more details in each of these sagas come to light, one thing is clear. The Bitcoin community must be more vigilant to scams and security than ever.
MintPal's Collapse "The New Mt. Gox"
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