A fun little known history about MTGox: Many of you are aware that it was originally intended to be a Magic: The Gathering online exchange. 

HOWEVER, this seemingly unrelated backstory actually illuminates one of the earliest use-cases for crypto: 

In the 2000s, we didn’t have a way to play “Magic” online, so open source devs put together p2p software that allowed us connect anonymously on IRC servers and organize bootleg magic tournaments (There wasn’t going to be a legit way to play magic online for another decade). 

We needed a way to collect and distribute tournament entry fees and prize money. In the first tournaments I played in, we LITERALLY had to send cash in the mail to tournament organizers. Since we were scattered all around the world, Bitcoin was the perfect solution. 

The original MTGox founders were part of our little community and were orange-pilled by a very real and fantastic use case. As far as I know, it never really was a functioning MtG exchange, though.
 Good times!