Kevin Day was passionate about technology and web culture, known for being a video game developer with a great curiosity for the digital world. After the dot-com crisis, Kevin discovered Bitcoin in 2011 and was fascinated by its decentralized philosophy. At that time, each Bitcoin cost barely $7, and he began to buy small amounts while also exploring the world of mining.

Everything seemed calm until June 19, 2011, when a historic event shook the crypto ecosystem. The price of Bitcoin plummeted from $17 to $0.01 in just 20 minutes. It was genuine panic for investors. This crash was caused by a hack of the Mt. Gox exchange, which at that time handled more than 70% of global Bitcoin transactions.

Far from being scared, Kevin saw an opportunity amidst the chaos. He used $3,000 to buy the astonishing amount of 259,684 BTC at an average price of $0.0101 per coin.

A few hours later, the price of Bitcoin began to recover rapidly, rising an impressive 166,000%. His $3,000 turned into nearly $5 million in a matter of hours.

Taking advantage of the rebound, Kevin withdrew 643 BTC to his personal wallet, the maximum that Mt. Gox allowed users to withdraw at that time. But what seemed like a masterstroke soon turned into a nightmare:

Mt. Gox announced that it would nullify all transactions made during the crash.

This meant that everyone who bought Bitcoin during the crash saw their balances reverted to zero. Kevin lost the 259,041 BTC he purchased during the chaos. However, he managed to keep the 643 BTC he had withdrawn before the announcement.

As of today, those 643 $BTC are worth $63,125,000, while the 259,684 BTC he lost have a value of $25,494,000,000.

Kevin, instead of hiding, faced the camera on a television program to defend his decision to take advantage of the drop. Meanwhile, Mt. Gox never reimbursed the users affected by the hack or those who bought during the drop, leaving a trail of distrust in the crypto ecosystem.

Kevin was lucky to walk away in time with part of his investment, but many others were not so fortunate. This hack marked a before and after in the history of Bitcoin and the world of exchanges.

Do you want to know the whole story of the Mt. Gox hack and its impact on the crypto ecosystem?

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