Kevin Day, who bought 260,000 $BTC at $0.01 each. Now, his portfolio would be worth $27.4 billion but...
He lost everything in one of the largest exchange delistings in cryptocurrency history
This is the HORRIFIC story of a man who almost became a billionaire #Bitcoin🧵👇
➮ Before we delve deeper..
I spend a lot of time and effort creating quality content, so make sure you are following @blogtienso not to miss anything. Also, please like, comment, and share if you enjoy this topic.
➮ Kevin Day is an eccentric from Nebraska in the 1990s
🕷 He worked as a video game developer on many popular games like Mortal Kombat 4, NBA Showtime, etc.
🕷 He also started a business but then switched to archiving the website
🕷 That was when he started to get interested in $BTC.
➮ Kevin bought $BTC when the price was $7
🕷 This was the time when $BTC was gradually becoming popular, as the price rose from $0.3
🕷 At first, he frantically tried to mine BTC
🕷 Now comes the exciting part👇
➮ June 19, 2011 – Kevin had the chance to change his life
🕷 At that time, $BTC dropped from $17 to $0.01 in about 20 minutes
🕷 At a time when many were scared and leaving the market, he seized the opportunity
🕷 He bid to buy $BTC worth $3,000 at $0.0101
➮ Kevin bought 259,684 BTC for only $3,000
🕷 When $BTC returned to its price, he had a ~166,000% increase
🕷 At that time, his profit was $5 million, but today it would be $27.4 billion
🕷 But that is where Kevin's luck ended....
➮ He kept all his $BTC on the exchange, but it turned out that was not the wisest decision
🕷 The exchange crash was due to an exchange hack – a hacker stole money and then sold it to destroy the market
🕷 Mt. Gox quickly announced it would 'cancel' transactions
➮ A little later, Mt. Gox reported that 25,000 BTC had been stolen
🕷 This exchange is now blaming its own auditing unit
➮ The recovery means all transactions after the hack will be canceled – including Kevin's transaction
🕷 Other buyers placed valid orders – having bought hundreds of $BTC without losing anything and seeing their BTC balance at 0
🕷 Users were scammed and devastated at that time.
➮ But fortunately, or unfortunately, Kevin managed to withdraw a small amount
🕷 Of the 260,000 BTC he bought, he withdrew 643 BTC – the largest amount allowed by the exchange's policy
➮ $BTC users are seeking answers as to why this happened and Kevin is one of the few who stepped forward
🕷 He believed his transactions were legitimate
🕷 He even participated in a first BTC talk show to defend himself.
➮ Clearly, Kevin is not responsible for the security issues of his exchange
🕷 But Mt. Gox never refunded any individuals who were hacked, even though the recovery created a dangerous precedent
🕷 And many people think Kevin is the hacker of Mt. Gox, calling him a thief
➮ Some people defended him and urged him to call a lawyer
🕷 Some people claim Kevin came forward, and some call him a 'hero'.
🕷 Lawyers advised Kevin to sue Mt. Gox, but he did not want to collapse the Bitcoin economy, putting BTC above his profits.
➮ Debates continue, discussing the next main idea:
🕷 Should exchanges be held to the same standards as Bitcoin?
🕷 Unfortunately, most did not provide users with any rights to their coins.
➮ Of course, Mt. Gox will do what is most beneficial for itself – erase all transactions
🕷 But Kevin lost 259,360 $BTC
🕷 So what is the valuable lesson here:
Never leave all your money on an exchange