Craig Wright once said that the collapse of Bitcoin exchange MtGox in 2014 cost him one of his companies. This isn’t true (he only lost $8,000-worth of bitcoin in the collapse) but tens of thousands of other people suffered huge losses when it imploded in February of that year, having lost over a million bitcoin between 2011 and 2014 due to hacks, thefts, mistakes, poor programming, and bad investments.

The collapse of MtGox shocked the Bitcoin world to its core and sparked battles for the tens of thousands of people affected by it, battles that continue to this day.

Ultimate Catastrophe – How MtGox Lost Half a Billion Dollars and Nearly Killed Bitcoin, written by Dr Bitcoin co-creator Mark Hunter, covers the rise and fall of MtGox and the titanic fights waged by those whose lives were turned upside-down by its capitulation: the sleuths, both amateur and professional, who hunted down the hackers; the desperate desire of MtGox CEO, Mark Karpelès, to clear his name; and the efforts of the tens of thousands of defrauded customers to claw back what is rightfully theirs.

With insight from those who built it, used it and investigated its demise, Mark tells the full story of the birth, life and untimely death of MtGox, a story never before told in its entirety.