Interview With GLBSE’s James McCarthy / Nefario

Last week, the Global Bitcoin Stock Exchange, for a long time the leading investment platform in the Bitcoin economy, suddenly and unexpectedly shut down. There has been much speculation about what has happened, as GLBSE founder James McCarthy (Nefario) maintained relative silence on the Bitcoin forums, and fears multiplied that government law enforcement agencies were behind the shutdown. Just like in the Bitcoinica case, there is also a substantial sum of Bitcoin deposits stored with the site, and so thousands of Bitcoin users around the world have a significant financial stake in the matter. In this interview, McCarthy will discuss the reasons behind the GLBSE’s shutdown, the historical background to the disagreement with his former business partner and currently most vocal opponent Theymos, and his perspective on the legality of Bitcoin services as a whole.