One idiot?  Mt. Gox was compromised.  Everyone who used the same password there and at mybitcoin.com lost their coin.  Dropbox accounts may have been compromised.  Even before this whole Mt. Gox fiasco, some idiot lost $500,000 to a hacker.

This is the tip of the iceberg my friend.  My point is, even if YOU are smart and take all the necessary precautions, there are stupid people out there who will not.  Should you care?  YES.

Why?  Because like you said BTC is dependent upon the size of the market (small and finite) and demand for coins.  If this was a one-time event then no big deal.  The problem is this can be replicated and as you can see, it's happening right now.  So you can hold onto your BTC's for as long as you want, doesn't matter, the hackers will continue to take BTC's and flood the market with them.  This will depress the price of BTC's, not just in the short term, but until you can secure the wallets of all BTC holders.  Goodluck with that.

Yes, unfortunately it's usually the course of action taken.  But can you really blame people?  I mean, if you can win a lawsuit against McDonalds for burning yourself because they didn't state their coffee was hot, you can pretty much sue for anything.

So you have a long term solution?  This is not a short term event, it's a precedent.  Security has been and will continue to be compromised because not everyone will be diligent with security measures.  Whether you like it or not, as an owner of BTC's, the value of your "coin" is tethered to the security (or lack thereof) of all other users.

A finite supply of a mostly illiquid instrument means a flood of supply will push down prices.  When you get something for free, you don't really care if you get the best price when selling.  It's a pretty big hole in the BTC model if you ask me.

And all these coins need to be liquidated....

So a flood of BTC supply hits the markets pushing the price down.  Everyone but the hackers lose out in the end. 

Oh no doubt.  There was some fantastic profit to be made during the 2008 market crash (to use a more recent example).  I'm just trying to caution the "newbies" that this game has played out before and a lot of people have been burned.

Bubbles are part of history, dating back to the great tulip bubble and probably even further.  It's like leverage, you can use it to your advantage to exponentially increase your profits but at the same time it can be like a sledgehammer to your head.  People just need to be wary.

The problem I foresee is lack of volume on the BTC exchange (whichever you decide to use).  You need high volume in order to execute those trades quickly.

Audited by whom?  Can you give me a name of the firm?  Or is it an internal audit?  

If you don't know the answer, I don't see how you can be confident in your response.

"Alive and well" is relative.  JDS Uniphase is alive and well but I don't think the investor that bought in at $100+ a share really cares.

I do agree with your statement xunker everyone needs to do their own due dilligence.  Unfortunately I think more people are looking at the meteoric rise in price and jumping in head first.  BTC does have potential, don't get me wrong, but is ridiculously overvalued at it's current price.  In my opinion, of course.

bbjansen,

You are not alone.  This is why Bitcoin is in for an epic crash.  There is no confidence in the market nor an acceptable medium for exchange.  Prices will be wildly volatile as people will try to cash out while others try to cling on that BTC is only in for a minor correction (ie. buying opportunity).

Once they realize the inherent problems with the system are still broken, they will sell.  Luckily for you, you're only a week in.  Walk away now or trade the volatility if you feel like gambling.  Someone will be holding the bag at the end of all of this, the goal is to make yourself not that guy.

Heard the same rationale during the tech bubble.  Bitcon is growing due to speculation, pure and simple.  Those who got in early have ridden the bubble up, hopefully exiting before the burst, what you have now are all the fool lemmings following in their footsteps trying to make an easy buck only to watch their profits go bye bye.

What am I going to do?  Watch the bloodbath. 

BTC will go down substantially, get a pop upwards (as the speculators, i.e. fools) buy back in "cheap" only to see demand is gone and try to unwind their positions thus pushing BTC down even further.

Markets are built on CONFIDENCE.  There is none right now and until we see some, you'd be a fool to buy.

Blinken is correct.  Obviously if you are expecting to receive a large amount of physical cash then you will need to inform them ahead of time so they can get said cash from their money processing center.  However, large sums of cash are almost never moved physically, they're done electronically.  Usually through wires.

You can wire every cent out of your account at any time if you want to.  MtGox did not give you that option.  And if your bank is limiting your online withdrawals, get another bank.

Gold is also tangible and has real-world uses (albeit not as much as silver). 

There will always be people who are looking for the quick and easy way out.  Hence the reason they continually get duped and remain poor.  It's the reason why so many lottery winners end up broke after a few years.  It doesn't matter how much money you have if you haven't learned to be financially responsible.

In that case, I don't think they should do a rollback.  If you want a free market, then you accept the pitfalls.  I don't recall any mullligans in the stock market when it fell due to manipulation.

An intro thread for a medium based upon anonimity

Anyway, I heard about bitcoins after reading an article about someone losing $500,000 on this stuff to a hacker.  Just poking my nose around doing "research."

Is it over or can I still watch?  Replay?

They already stated they will be doing a rollback