Mircea Popescu[edit]

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Mircea Popescu is a Romanian entrepreneur and author. He is the founder and operator of MPEx, a securities and futures exchange denominated in Bitcoin and is a co-owner of the Bitcoin betting site BitBet.us,[1] the hardware security firm NoSuchlAbs[2] and MiniGame,[3] a computer game publisher. Popescu also covers cryptocurrency, tech and social topics on Trilema, his personal blog.

1 Background[edit]

Popescu grew up in Cluj-Napoca, Transylvania and graduated from Avram Iancu University. He has lived in several countries including United States, Mexico, Costa Rica and Egypt, where he co-authored the novel Asylum.[4]

2 Career[edit]

Popescu founded Polimedia, a Romanian enterprise resource planning firm, in 2007.[5]

He began writing Trilema in his native Romanian in late 2008.[6] Popescu began writing about Bitcoin in early 2012[7] and switched to coverage in English later that year.[8] He has since published prolifically on the topic, notably arguing for the inelasticity of the cryptocurrency amidst changes in supply and demand[9] and describing what he sees as the future of contractual agreements based on cryptographic protocols.[10] He is also outspoken about Bitcoin related scams;[11] Popescu suggested in April 2013 that since-defunct exchange MtGox was headed for failure[12] and expressed similar concerns about Labcoin in July 2013[13] before the scheme's closure.[14]

MPEx, which Popescu started in April 2012,[15] attracted initial media attention[16][17][18][19] internationally[20] following its listing of the bitcoin gambling site SatoshiDice, which sold in July 2013 for a total of over 125,000 BTC.[21][22][23]

2.1 Romanian Corruption Scandal[edit]

On July 13, 2009, the Romanian press [24] reported that Mircea Popescu had filed a complaint with the country's special prosecutor for graft and administrative fraud on the grounds that the ex-president of the Romanian Academy had spent over $1mn in public funds on a project to scan and make publicly available the notes and other materials left by the poet Mihai Eminescu, which failed to produce any usable results. The matter was not prosecuted, but Eugen Simion withdrew from public life.

2.2 OpenBSD fundraiser[edit]

The exchange's sponsorship of the operating system OpenBSD in January 2014[25][26][27][28][29][30][31] was largely seen as an unexpected rescue for the project, which Popescu said he admired for its “clamped down, security-minded approach”.[32] This came after OpenBSD's benevolent dictator Theo de Raadt warned that OpenBSD would indeed shut down if funding could not be secured. [33]

2.3 Berkshire vs. Bitcoin Bet[edit]

In March 2014 BitBet.us made headlines[34] for a 1,000 BTC bet[35] by Mircea Popescu [36] speculating that Bitcoin would prove to be a better investment than Berkshire Hathaway's BRK-A shares in a year's time.

2.4 SEC request[edit]

The same month, Popescu revealed that he had received a request to disclose details of MPEx' users and at least one security issuer from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[37] His candid responses to the commission's request exemplify Popescu's unconventional stance on regulatory authority and sparked widespread discussion[38][39][40] of Bitcoin's relation to traditional regulatory bodies.

3 References[edit]

  1. Jump up ^ "S.BBET last 50@0.00059000". Mpex.co. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  2. Jump up ^ "S.NSA last 400@0.00015600". Mpex.co. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  3. Jump up ^ "S.MG last 300@0.00015400". Mpex.co. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  4. Jump up ^ "I wrote a book… pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  5. Jump up ^ "SC POLIMEDIA SRL din Dumbravita Str. Szentes 7a, CUI 22530016". Listafirme.ro. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  6. Jump up ^ "In vizita pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  7. Jump up ^ "Bitcoin pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. 2013-08-12. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  8. Jump up ^ "Dragii mei, avem o problema pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  9. Jump up ^ "Bitcoin prices, Bitcoin inflexibility pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  10. Jump up ^ "GPG contracts pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  11. Jump up ^ "A message to Bitcoin wanna-be scammers pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  12. Jump up ^ "Grave concerns re MtGox pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. 2000-03-20. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  13. Jump up ^ "The anatomy of a scam. pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  14. Jump up ^ "Labcoin has been outed as a scam run by notorious bitcoin scammer Alberto Armandi : Bitcoin". Reddit.com. 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  15. Jump up ^ "MPEx, jurnal de prima zi pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. 2012-08-04. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  16. Jump up ^ O'Leary, Naomi (2 April 2012). "Bitcoin, the City traders' anarchic new toy". Reuters. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  17. Jump up ^ "A Review of MPEx, the Bitcoin Stock Exchange". Loper OS. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  18. Jump up ^ Matonis, Jon (22 January 2013). "Bitcoin Casinos Release 2012 Earnings". Forbes. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  19. Jump up ^ Buterin, Vitalik (5 February 2013). "January 2013: Bitcoin News Roundup". Bitcoin Magazine. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  20. Jump up ^ http://trilema.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/big-in-china.jpg
  21. Jump up ^ Ludwig, Sean (19 July 2013). "First big Bitcoin acquisition: gambling site SatoshiDice bought for $11.5M". Venture Beat. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  22. Jump up ^ Spaven, Emily (18 July 2013). "Bitcoin company acquisitions begin: Gambling site SatoshiDice sells for $11.5m (126,315 BTC)". CoinDesk. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  23. Jump up ^ 1 Comment Tweet bitcoin (2013-08-23). "Lightspeed Venture Partners » At least half of all Bitcoin transactions are for online gambling". Lsvp.com. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  24. Jump up ^ "Eugen Simion merge cu Eminescu la DNA". 
  25. Jump up ^ "Romanian Bitcoin Entrepreneur Steps In To Pay OpenBSD Shortfall - Slashdot". Bsd.slashdot.org. 2014-01-20. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  26. Jump up ^ Tilves, Monica (21 January 2014). "Rescatan a OpenBSD a base de Bitcoins". Silicon Week. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  27. Jump up ^ Lopez, Manuel (20 January 2014). "OpenBSD busca patrocinadores". Unocero. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  28. Jump up ^ Bright, Peter (20 January 2014). "OpenBSD rescued from unpowered oblivion by $20K bitcoin donation". Ars Technica. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  29. Jump up ^ Bansal, Sudhir (21 January 2014). "OpenBSD Project survived after $20,000 Donation from Romanian Bitcoin Billionaire". The Hacker News. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  30. Jump up ^ "Nourrir les vaches ! Openbsd a reçu des fonds.". LinuxFr.org. 2014-01-19. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  31. Jump up ^ 8:52. "Rumunský miliardár zachraňuje projekt OpenBSD - Linux Mint CZ&SK". Test.linux-mint-czech.cz. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  32. Jump up ^ Finley, Klint (22 January 2014). "Bitcoin Baron Keeps a Secretive Open Source OS Alive". Wired. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  33. Jump up ^ http://www.osnews.com/story/27519/_OpenBSD_will_shut_down_if_we_do_not_have_the_funding_
  34. Jump up ^ Vigna, Paul (18 March 2014). "BitBeat: Bitcoin Gets Shakespearean". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  35. Jump up ^ "BitBet - Bitcoin to surpass Berkshire as an investment". Bitbet.us. 2014-03-16. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  36. Jump up ^ http://trilema.com/2014/an-era-ends-today-a-new-era-starts-today/
  37. Jump up ^ "Interacting with fiat institution, a guide pe Trilema - Un blog de Mircea Popescu". Trilema.com. Retrieved 2014-03-23. 
  38. Jump up ^ Dougherty, Carter (20 March 2014). "Gambling Website’s Bitcoin-Denominated Stock Draws SEC Inquiry". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  39. Jump up ^ O'Brien, Terrence (20 March 2014). "SEC investigation of Bitcoin-based stock sale could lead to broader regulation". Engadget. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 
  40. Jump up ^ Dean, Michelle (20 March 2014). "Bitcoin Trading Exchange Spurns Thirsty SEC". Gawker. Retrieved 23 March 2014. 

4 External links[edit]

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