Gustavo Schiavon, one of the founders of Brazil’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Foxbit, died in a car accident involving several vehicles in São Paulo, Brazil, local news outlet Globo reported on December 25, 2018.
Young Brazilian Crypto Entrepreneur Dies in a Car Accident
Tragedy has struck Brazil as the country’s crypto community mourns the death of one their brightest entrepreneurs. Gustavo Schiavon, a co-founder of the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, has passed away in a car accident in the Brazilian state of São Paulo.
According to a report from Globo, a local news outlet, the accident took place on the SP-294 highway between Marília and the São Paulo capital. Heavy rain caused Gustavo, affectionately known as Guto, to lose control of his car which resulted in him being hit by a cargo truck.
The accident involved several other vehicles, including two trucks and two cars, and took another life. Schiavon’s girlfriend, Ariadny Rinolfi was also in the vehicle with him and is currently in critical condition and under intensive care in an unspecified São Paulo hospital.
Gustavo Schiavon.
(Source: Foxbit)
Foxbit commented on the news on December 27, describing Schiavon as an “instrumental figure” that helped the company become the largest Bitcoin exchange in Latin America.
“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,” the company wrote on their website, adding that they were “giving all solidarity and support to Guto’s family.”
Brazil’s Largest Bitcoin Exchange
Prior to his death, Schiavon held the position of chief operating officer at Foxbit, the exchange he helped launch back in 2014. The exchange was born out of a partnership between FoxBit Serviços Digitais and BlinkTrade Inc., a technology provider, and quickly became one of the most popular cryptocurrency exchanges in the country.
“We are a family united for an objective: to revolutionize the financial market and to contribute to the growth of the crypto-economy,” Schiavon’s biography on the Foxbit website read.
The team behind the exchange has been commended several times for their work on educating people about cryptocurrencies. The exchange’s work has frequently been described as innovative, which helped it maintain its popularity even during bear markets.
Foxbit, however, had its own fair share of problems. Earlier in 2018, the exchange was hacked which lead to $1 million being stolen. Luckily, the company refunded all of their customers and managed to survive the incident relatively intact.
Following the theft, the exchange had to fight oppression and unlawful shutdowns from the country’s financial regulators and banks. The pressure on crypto exchanges eventually led to Mercado Bitcoin, another prominent Brazilian exchange, to file a lawsuit against Itaú Unibanco for closing its bank accounts. Foxbit’s accounts were also abruptly closed, with the country’s Supreme Court defending the bank’s position.
