Bitcoin Forum

On the MTGox support/news page there is a statement that MTGox is buying bitomat.pl and restoring all the bitomat.pl users coins (assuming from MTGox profits/reserves).

How do you think this will affect the market? I can see a few things happening.

1) 17,000 coins are now back in the hands of people that lost them for a few weeks so there will be a quick dump from the people that just want to take their money before something else happens to it.

2) A somewhat isolated exchange will now add its traffic into the main exchange and prices will rise.

3) the numbers affected by bitomat.pl are small in comparison to the overall market, and will have no noticeable effect.

It just goes to demonstrate how poorly 'Tom Williams' handled the mybitcoin incident.

If he wasn't so bloody precious about his anonymity - he could've potentially come up with a similar arrangement with some investor.

mybitcoin would have been worth much more than the Polish exchange too. I can't believe he trashed that brand.. all over a mere 75,000 coins or so.

I think the feel-good factor for this move will extend beyond Poland.

It's now one less thing the rabid anti-bitcoiners can use to naysay us with.
Ok - it's still bad it happened in the first place, but that a transaction like this can take place in the bitcoin community - a form of free-market 'consumer protection'.... that's just awesome.

I doubt the impact on price will be immediate or large.. but it may make a difference in how some of the upcoming news coverage is slanted.. so it's a good long-term signal.
Good move by mtgox for sure.

This is good news. Also, SEPA transfers are going to be back soon and more reliable than ever. And all international wires will be easier and cheaper. https://support.mtgox.com/entries/20344112-euro-banking-update

Now we just need the release of the new Bitcoin client with built-in encryption and I feel there will be a substantial rally.

Yeah, just awesome that more of a "decentralized"coin gets centralized under one exchange! Just awesome! >.<

heh.. funny you should mention that.. I noted my reservations on exchange consolidation on the corresponding thread in discussion.

Nevertheless..  the stain on the entire bitcoin ecosystem caused by the bitomat failure was enough that I think on balance this is good.
There are still plenty of opportunities for exchanges to pop up and compete.

Great, so MtGox reimburses those people but doesn't reimburse those who lost funds during the hack. Great.

Good point. Very good point.

I'm not sure many (if any?) people actually lost coins... who are you referring to?  My impression was that, at maximum, 1-2k coins were missing, and it was all from the one large account that got hacked. There was not some vast swatch of account holders who lost coins. Am I mistaken?

::)
Buying non-existent coins which were added to the system by a hacker, and then getting your money back after, doesn't = "lost funds."

Who lost funds during the hack and wasn't reimbursed? My impression that the only people who weren't reimbursed were those who gained funds due to the hack.

My account was hacked, and my money was stolen....

The entire Mt.Gox user database was in the hacker's hands for at least several days prior to the big hack. None of the people that were hacked prior to the big hack were ever reimbursed.