TL;DR
Gustavo Schiavon, the co-founder of Brazil’s largest crypto exchange, Foxbit, has recently passed away in São Paulo, Brazil. The young, 24-year-old entrepreneur died in a car accident between Marilia and São Paulo capital after being hit by a cargo truck. The incident occurred under heavy rain, which is why Schiavon supposedly lost control of his car. The force of the impact caused major damage to Schiavon’s vehicle.
According to reports, Schiavon’s girlfriend, Ariadny Rinolfi was also in the vehicle with him. She survived the accident, but latest reports claim she is currently under intensive care in an unspecified São Paulo-based hospital.
Due to conditions on the road, Schiavon was not the only fatal victim, as another person in a different vehicle also lost their lives in a crash that included two trucks and two automobiles in total.
Schiavon co-founded Foxbit in 2014, and the crypto market conditions allowed the exchange to grow at a rapid pace. Soon enough, it became one of the largest BTC exchanges in Brazil. Other co-founders include Marcos Henrique, João Canhada, and Felipe Trovão.
During the last four years of the exchange’s existence, its development team earned multiple prizes. They also became quite well-known in the crypto community around the world. Their work was often described as innovative, which is believed to be the cause of Foxbit’s popularity even when the market conditions were less than friendly.
The exchange was targeted by hackers earlier this year, and the attack resulted in a one million USD theft. However, the company was already successful enough at this point to survive the incident, and move on even after providing a refund for its customers.
Another incident in 2018 has seen a lawsuit against one of Brazil’s bank that has decided to shut down Foxbit’s account. This came at the time when issues regarding money laundering were at their highest, and the bank expressed concern regarding the possibility of the exchange being misused for illegal purposes.
The bank also defended its move by stating that shutting down customer accounts is within their rights. This was the first significant move against cryptos in Brazil, which is what eventually led to a court decision that allowed banks to close accounts at their discretion. This reflected negatively on Brazil’s crypto businesses, and many business owners started searching for an alternative method of conducting their business.
Similar incidents occurred in other countries around the world, such as India, where exchanges and business startups had to either close shop or relocate.
