Luís Schiavon, known as Guto, the co-founder of popular Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange Foxbit, has passed away on December 25 after being involved in a car accident in São Paulo, Brazil. According to local news outlet G1, the accident involved three vehicles and occurred due to poor weather conditions.

The driver of the car Guto was in reportedly lost control and ended up being hit by a vehicle coming in the opposite direction. Right after, a truck that wasn’t able to move away hit the vehicle. Four individuals were rescued by emergency services and sent to the hospital, two in serious condition.

Guto ended up passing away. The cryptocurrency exchange he helped found, Foxbit, has since issued a death note in which it claims the Bachelor in Information Systems helped it grow to have over 400,000 users and to transact over 5 billion Brazilian reais ($1.2 billion) since 2014. The note reads:

We communicate with deep regret the death of the founder and director of Foxbit Operations, Luís Augusto Schiavon Ramos, Guto, at the age of 24, on the afternoon of this Tuesday, December 25th, a victim of an automobile accident on the João Ribeiro de Barros -294), in Marília (SP)…. Foxbit is giving all solidarity and support to Guto's family.

According to local news outlet Portal do Bitcoin, Guto was one of the most well-known cryptocurrency entrepreneurs in Brazilian circles, along with his business partner and friend João Canhada, who helped him found Foxbit.

Guto was a prominent internet user from a young age, as when he was 11 years old he moderated forums related to Ragnarok Online, an online game. Before founding Foxbit, he created a crypto-related service called “Pay with Bitcoin” to help crypto adoption grow. The service still exists.

Finding Out About Bitcoin

Per its report, Guto first found out about bitcoin in 2011, but found that “the content was too technical and scarce,” and ended up losing interest. Two years later, various mainstream media outlet started talking about bitcoin as it’s price was rising, and his interest peaked.

In a blog post about his life, he wrote:

Then [the] curiosity returned! Around 2013, I joined a Facebook group called 'Bitcoin Brazil’ and started to study more about it. I bought a video card, mined litecoin and wrote several articles for blogs

Later on he ended up founding the cryptocurrency exchange with João Canhada – who has already honored Guto via social media – and making a difference for the cryptocurrency community in Brazil.

Remembering the first few days, he noted that it “didn’t matter if it was Christmas, New Year’s, or Easter” as they were always working to try and fix users’ problems.