2014 Top News Stories in Bitcoin Investing

If, when following bitcoin investing news last year, you thought you’d accidentally stumbled upon some a sort of soap opera, you wouldn’t be far wrong.
2014 was a sensational year for bitcoin investing, with massive bankruptcy of a major bitcoin exchange, millions in lost bitcoins, a global illegal drug network, faked murders, and a mysterious criminal mastermind named “The Dread Pirate Roberts.”

Largest bitcoin exchange files for bankruptcy

Bitcoin made the news in February 2014 over the abrupt disappearance of the world’s oldest and most important bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox. The company filed for bankruptcy protection with liabilities of $63.6 million, and more than 850,000 bitcoins missing. At the time, these were valued at nearly half a billion dollars.
Because Mt. Gox is not a bank, it wasn’t protected by the same third-party institutions insuring traditional assets held in a bank. Customers were left betrayed in the site of its collapse. Bitcoin investor Kolin Burges commented: “I am thoroughly disgusted by the company and the way they have ruined so many people’s lives, as well as disgusted by their conduct through this whole situation.”
Investigations into what actually happened to the missing bitcoins is still ongoing. Mt. Gox officially claimed that a problem with its software. However, more recent reports speculate that the theft was an inside job at the bitcoin exchange. What is certain that the company’s bitcoin were gone long before the company’s collapse in February.

Involvement in the Silk Road drug case

Bitcoin was once again splashed across news headlines due to it’s involvement in the Silk Road drug case. The case involved $214 million of online drug sales, transacted using bitcoin’s anonymity. Creator of the Silk Route, Ross Ulbricht, was recently sentenced to life in prison for his involvement with the website, convicted on seven felony charges, including a “kingpin” charge that is usually applied to leaders of organized crime groups.
The Silk Road scandal was closely wrapped up with the bitcoin community, as several leading figures were also implicated in the crackdown. The Department of Justice arrested Charlie Shrem, CEO of BitInstant and vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation on charges of selling bitcoins to users of the anonymous black market. Robert Faiella, another major player in the Bitcoin market, was also arrested.
The connections run so deeply that at one point in the trial, Mark Karpeles, the ex-CEO of Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange was named as a possible figure behind “The Dread Pirate Roberts” (a moniker later proved to be Ulbright’s). Karpeles denied this almost cinematic connection to the case, claiming that “I have nothing to do with Silk Road and do not condone what has been happening there.”
Nonetheless, an association seems to have been made between Bitcoin and unethical dealings. Manhattan U.S. attorney Preet Bharara called out Bitcoin for its role in this case, as “truly innovative business models don’t need to resort to old-fashioned law-breaking, and when Bitcoins, like any traditional currency, are laundered and used to fuel criminal activity, law enforcement has no choice but to act.”