Mircea Popescu, one of the pioneers in the cryptocurrency market and became a millionaire by hoarding one of the largest individual investments in bitcoins, has drowned in Costa Rica at the age of 41. Without offspring, the fate of his fortune is unknown.
The authorities of Costa Rica have confirmed the death of Mircea Popescu, known in the field of the cryptocurrency market for almost a decade, since in 2012 he started a personal blog about bitcoin and shortly after he was one of the promoters of MPEx, one of the first bitcoin trading platforms, created practically at the same time as the American Coinbase.
The pioneer in cryptocurrency investment had made a fortune valued at more than $ 1 billion thanks to the bitcoins that he had treasured since his inception as an investor in the largest of digital currencies. Before the recent crash of the cryptocurrency, during the historical records reached in mid-April by bitcoin when it touched $ 65,000, his personal fortune would be around $ 2 billion. At the age of 41, he was considered one of the largest individual bitcoin investors in the world.
The death took place in Costa Rica
The local media explain that “the events occurred around 8:30 in the morning (local time) when Popescu entered the sea to swim in the Tramonto sector, was swept away by the current and died on the spot.”
The Costa Rican media point out that lifeguards remind tourists that the area of the event is not a beach for swimming, because “the current can drag you for kilometers and if you swim against it you die of exhaustion.”
Controversial figure
The controversy accompanied Mircea Popescu from the moment his popularity soared. A fierce opponent of other cryptocurrencies such as ripple, he was known for his controversial views, sometimes criticized for containing sexist and racist overtones. The death of Popescu, with no known descendants, leaves unsolved the mystery of what will be the fate of his millionaire fortune invested in bitcoins.
