When I started MPEx back in February 2012 the world was a very different place. The announcement is actually in Romanian, for one thing. Let us quote a few words.

In the grand tradition of European multiculturalism, comments in any and all languages are welcome. Currently no way of investing bitcoins exists. This state of affairs seems to me (together with the difficulties John Q. Random faces trying to buy bitcoins with his cc/pp) the foremost drag on the growth of the bitcoin idea. Seeing as MPOE has by and large come out of beta, I find myself in the most delightful position of being able to do something about it. As such, starting right now, you will be able to purchase stocks in MPOE and MPOE bonds, or in other words invest bitcoins in the proper sense. I will explain the details below, but first, a run-down of the financial results of MPOE for the past six months:

Oh how things have changed. Bitcoin, far from being "an idea", is today the currency of an independent Republic, powerful enough to compete with the fiat nations of the world, and hold its own. It's not yet where it builds nukes and carriers, it's not altogether clear it even wants to do such a thing, but certainly on the list that includes Holland and Kiribati, Dominica and Germany, Brazil and The Gambia, Samoa and Nigeria, B,TMSR~ does not come out last. This is significantly more than any five-year plan has ever achieved, which I suppose says a lot about the virtues of planning.

Back in 2012 the "community" of idiots and imbeciles saw pirateat40 as their fixed-income expert and nefario & friends as the equity experts (let's not even get into Bitcoin "banking") ; saw MagicalTux and Jared Kenna as their FX experts ; saw Gavin Andresen and Mike Hearn as their developers Power Rangers and so on and so forth. The "community" of idiots and imbeciles is alive and well today, of course, but as an anonymous, seething blob of nothing. Relegated to the depths of retarddit and tardstalk - much like their fiat counterparts dwell in the hallowed halls of yahoo finance "discussion boards"- there's exactly no chance and plainly no possibility of one from their midst ever rising again to cause any sort of trouble for anyone. This is a significant change, because four years ago it seemed not merely possible, but outright probable that Bitcoin will raise some of the common people into positions of relevancy in the world. It tried. It failed.

Five years ago my intentions were, and I quote,

I do not intend to hold on to my controlling interest indefinitely. Once the above is complete, and if I consider the general Bitcoin community is both strong enough and competent enough, I will sell S.MPOE controlling interest (50% + the voting share) to a group of credible investors, with a credible plan in place, through a proper auction much like what you'd see if the Russian government sold its Gazprom (minus, of course, all the graft). Should this ever occur (and to look at the forum digests I receive you'd think it absolutely never will) I will consider this little experiment a complete success, as far as I'm concerned (not that there's much to complain as it is). A closed deal, a second retirement for me personally.

Then again, five years ago the projection re Bitcoin's evolution were, and again I quote,

Yet another one of them is that consumers revolt, entrepreneurs intervene, before the end of 2015 there's about a thousand to a million different Bitcoin forks, each with its ten million-ish monetary base worth about a dollar, on global average. The size of the inter-Bitcoins market, the complexity and confusion ensuing makes pretty much everything unmanageable for the "ordinary person". Hedge funds and banks (the ones a little ahead of using Excel) that trade in this murky complexity make a killing and become the principal driver of economic growth worldwide. Not only is the consumer about as screwed as is currently the case, but to everyone's benefit he has just been clearly proven yet again that revolt = being fucked in the ass harder, longer, with a thicker implement with sharper barbs on it. Also conveniently, the thing to revolt at has become much more vague and intangible. On the balance of probabilities this would seem the most likely outcome, strictly because history unerringly flows in that direction which most cruely rapes the "average person".

This is exactly what has happened, of course. The idiots did what they do best, and for that matter do always : they demured. Because it's always easier, and cheaper, and that's the whole of their law. Far from being the open exercise in community building and opportunity-for-everyone fiesta, the history of Bitcoin turned slowly but inexorably towards excluding the common man. This was not deliberate, mind you, and to understand why in 2012 anything anyone wanted to do was make mining rigs "for the people" whereas in 2016 common people simply can not buy new miners, no matter what happens and how much money they're willing to spend, all you have to do is read the bloviation of "the public".

Meanwhile, the enemies of Bitcoin grew ever more numerous, ever more organised, ever more scared and ever richer (as far as printed paper makes one richer). Under their pressure, ever more items have to be driven away from public discussion - because the educational value to the various John Q. Pointless and Suzy Q. Witless is far surpassed by the intelligence cost, and besides, Johnny and Suzy already have plenty of more valuable educational material available they're not reading anyway.

The intention throughout was to slowly open more and more of MPEx' inner workings to the public. The practice has been that MPEx became ever less transparent. By now its opacity verges on the ridiculous. Yes there are perfectly good reasons for which trying to privatize a supplier for a major defense contractor, with a view to expanding the process all the way to eventually privatizing the entire government is more likely to fail than to succeed. It is time to face facts and admit the simple truth : it failed. It makes no sense to maintain the pretense that MPEx is a public company. It is not. It can not be, try as we might.

Consequently, MPEx is going private, through a sale for 249`933.22034807 BTC in cash. Each share has received a 50`000 satoshi disbursement, ~49`987 satoshi of which representing the value of this transaction and ~13 satoshi representing unpaid dividends for February 2016. S.MPOE will be subsequently delisted, and holdings eventually deleted from accounts.

This transaction values MPEx at 499`866.44069614 BTC, enshrining MPEx' status as the most important thing to ever happen in Bitcoin finance up to this point, as well as for a good chunk of the forseeable future.

Throughout its lifetime, MPEx paid out 21`416.43794706 BTC in dividends, which dwarfs the cumulative profits of all the various fiat businesses purporting to have some sort of connection to Bitcoin combined, and further strengthens its unparalleled record of financial success.

As a privately owned entity, MPEx will continue its operations as before. I maintain majority ownership, as well as executive control. I remain open to listing worthy companies, should any be found, and in general remain committed to the success of Bitcoin as the currency of the Republic, and to the supremacy of the Republic over all other groups and persons.

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