I found a work around - and sorted things out.  About to do a little more trading to finish sorting out any residual issues that I might have with BTC this week. 

Wasn't much point getting to posted to me at the time, but I should have got it sent to my friend in Minnesota.  (still, there is some shit that might happen there)

Not for a few more weeks - but I expect it to.  Then I'll arrange a collection.

And also for the record, having travelled 9000 km, I picked up the yen without a hitch.  A decent sized transaction with lots of potential to go wrong.  I couldn't ask for a better trust level than that. 

Now I'm off to spend it. 

ok.  The starfish is going on holiday and changing time-zone (not sure if 4 or five hours - but going to Northern hemisphere).   I'll be less available on-line for the next two weeks, but will still be running the bank while I'm away from home base.  Like I said, I have a life, and this break has been nine months since the last sojourn to Kyoto.

But those reserves are set at stupidly low levels (below 5%).  The use of liquid funds definition becomes relevant, and any spare liquid funds are normally not held by the bank, but provided to a central bank to minimise actual cash held.  Ages ago I worked at a bricks and mortar bank - total cash held was around $200k at the branch, yet some accounts were many millions.

Most of my funds are liquid (held or on call) greater than 50%.  If I had all my depositors withdraw and all my term loans default I'd be mad as hell, but can cover every coin.

And this nicely encapsulates the current global financial markets.

Also note, that when the banks stopped lending (due to risks, GFC and other reasons), many economies around the world screeched to a halt.  Having a banking system here is therefore important to the bitcoin economy.

Also, and while this is a specific rather than general example, if you're a 15 year old wanting $500 for a speedy GPU to mine some coins, you're not going to get bank financing.  But with a few-month payback, the rates we're lending at makes sense.

I'm impressed.  This thread looks like 90%+ of the lending business (lenders) contributing to the OP misnomer.  I can think of a couple that haven't written something, or who don't need to.

btw - I agree with znort - having been talked through GPG signing by INAU in slightly under two hours and going on IRC, I haven't been back since.  It was a giant PITA.

I'll just post a +0.5  for now.  I've had good support from CryptoX and will be using them again.  However, I've been wanting to do a deposit with them for a couple of weeks and not been able to (and had to use a different exchange).  But I do at least get emails from support. 

There is way more to it than that.

One of my local buyers of coins paid roughly $1/coin over the exchange rate to get coins this year (about $1000 worth).
I must also be one of those brainless (I am a Starfish after all) lenders losing lots of money on lending (think I'm up to 300 coins in bad loans so far).

However, I pay interest on deposits around 6.5%/month and spent some time explaining this to someone why this was my next cheapest source of funding despite having cash sitting in an account earning 5%/year.  I also have done some (limited) borrowing and have an 8% 500 BTC loan with someone.

But, on the other side of the lending bubble, yes, there are good rates to lend at, and some might be going into god-knows-what.  Other people need bridging finance as funds clear, and getting a good deal on a GPU in BTC might mean the difference between saving $100 and missing out.

Also, I expect the rates to come down significantly as the volatility in cross rates falls, and some of the other sources of funds squeeze down the payment levels.  Until then, and I'm planning on it happening, I'll make a few coins.

As a following day postscript, I expressed an opinion and it is reasonable to see if the damage that has been done will be reversed.
As a separate item, I wondered if there was a facility to check or block particular ips from the forum.

It still strikes me there are some gaps in the story, so will watch quietly from the sidelines on this one.

http://recordsetter.com/world-record/balance-an-upside-down-shoe-top-head-while-rola-bola/10233

They could have simply posted the video reference.

Also, shoe on head = https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=shoe+on+head&hl=en&safe=off&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=JbdvT6S-L6ydiAe1pYHJDA&ved=0CFkQsAQ&biw=1745&bih=860  There are many less pineapple's on heads.

the cat speaks latin

edit: well, types in latin - cats can't speak, just like starfish don't drive cars

I think I have it worked out.

BlueCorp is a cat that's taken over the computer.  While qt-coins might have been good, I think 10 i0coins would be about the right level at this stage.

However, I don't want to be scammed by a cat that could be DoSaK.

Worth noting a couple of things.

As the company was struck off, Andre was operating as an individual and has the liability personally.  The protections of the Corporations Act and the provisions of insolvency don't work the same.

Issuing a statutory demand (or similar) is relatively cheap, but enforcement gets expensive.  In the other case I'm running in Aus, I've spent roughly $5k on background, and an uncontested (non-court) result should come in under another $5k.  If I have to do the full court stuff, that's $20k, and I still won;t get funds back - but it will at least shut down the guy I'm dealing with.

Not being GST registered is not a flag as getting that much from a start-up exchange on the fees they were charging is unlikely.  You would only go that step if it needs to.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=70139.msg811964#msg811964

You can't provide the most basic of details, and IMHO you're lying through your teeth.  It would be nice if ip's like yours are banned completely.

They may not understand the reference about the shoe, and my preference is for a pineapple.

Basically, a good idea to gain some credibility, and others have done that too.  This section of the forum is littered with examples of people asking for small starter loans and then disappearing with a decent block of change, so expect a hard time just for now. 

(Hmm, starfish thinks about writing a guide "scamming bitcoin for dummies")

Thanks to Mathew and his avatar, what 2girls 1cup means.

+1

Brackets on most of my cards have been removed, and air flow is better.  The computer room is a great place for my wife to get laundry dry.

When will you learn their fish-squares are one of the most disappointing items on the menu?