Mysterious Bitcoin Maximalist Mircea Popescu Allegedly Found Dead
Mircea Popescu, the founder of the crypto trading exchange Mpex, died at the age of 41. His body was found drowned off the coast of Costa Rica on June 23, 2021. Adding to the mystery surrounding the man, his purported bitcoin fortune, and what it might mean for the future of the network.
Father of “Bitcoin Toxicity” Faced No Shortage of Controversy
Just like the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamato sparked a thrilling hunt for the true identity of the person or persons behind Bitcoin, the network has reportedly lost one of its most enigmatic and polarizing figures of the last decade.
Mircea Popescu, a Romanian national and noted Bitcoin maximalist who promised to dump over one million bitcoins if block sizes were adjusted, supposedly drowned off the coast of Costa Rica on June 23rd. Confirmation of his passing has been scant, with outlets originally reporting that a Polish national had drowned.
A relatively mysterious figure within the community, little is known about Popescu apart from his blogging on Trilema, support for security-focused open-source projects, and dedication to keeping the Bitcoin network unchanged despite calls for bigger block sizes.
After blogging on cryptocurrency in its early years, he founded bitcoin exchange Mpex in 2012, which later became the target of a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation. Satoshi DICE, a popular gambling website that only accepted bitcoin, was listed on Romanian-based Mpex by Eric Voorhees.
Despite the little known about his personal and professional endeavors, Popescu’s commitment to open-source systems is well known.
Mired in controversy for years, Popescu left behind many quotes and sayings, some of which painted a fairly negative image of the man himself. Yet, none of his antics were taken so seriously as his promise to dump a million bitcoins in the market if changes were made to Bitcoin block sizes (this reportedly occurred in 2016), earning him the moniker “Father of Bitcoin Toxicity.” Eventually, Segwit2x, an initiative designed to double the block size to 2MB, was abandoned and cemented the network’s use of the 1MB block size.
Despite never being confirmed, it was inferred that Popescu actually did command control over that vast swathe of a million bitcoin, which, if true, made him likely the only bitcoin millionaire (owner of more than one million coins). However, this figure was never confirmed. It did create concerns in light of his alleged death, though, that one million bitcoins could hit the market and cause prices to careen lower.
For now, the situation remains shrouded in mystery amid the lack of formal confirmation of his passing.
