We actually did talk about the elephant in the room, it wasn't really a one-sided contract. It may seem that way, but signing the contract prevented the creation of probably their most connected US challenger to date. The partnership means that Gox basically keeps their monopoly on market trading, rather than losing their US customers when Coinlab's exchange is much easier to get money into, and comply with relevent tax law.
Yes I do remember you talking about the
Quid pro quo, but in my opinion this really isn't of the same magnitude.
MtGox was removing only one (theoretical) competitor, at the cost of giving away much.
This move was risking to alienate part of their customers; many people really
didn't like the idea of MtGox simply transferring private information like this.
(Which was expressed quite clearly on the forum.)
I, for one,
really didn't like the move to US soil.
Gox also pretty much has a
de facto monopoly on market trading anyway.
People buy BTCs from different exchanges, but if they want to trade, they mostly just send their BTCs to Gox.
I don't really see any reason why buyers at Coinlab would have stayed at CoinLab.
The contract mentioned that Gox was supposed to help CoinLab with the liquidity and know-how.
This, alone, is a huge chunk! We've seen again and again exchanges appearing with what you call the amateurs hour.
What were they lacking? For the most part, liquidity and know-how.
CoinLab also gained the prestige that comes with associating with the oldest and most successful Bitcoin exchange.
From a startup which initial plan was to GPU mine on gamers computers... let's just say it was a more than necessary PR boost.
And this is all assuming that CoinLab indeed had some important footholds in the
banking world that would prevent banks from arbitrarily closing their account.
Oh and CoinLab, by the contract, is also prohibited from entering in competition with MtGox for only 2 years.
It's probable that Mark saw things I didn't see, but that deal really looks one-sided to me.
Edit: Related
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yNWUcmfJoQ
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