Hmmmm. I am on the network, I have 21 active connections, and I have a static IP that is set to allow listening on the port. That should have worked. Are you sure your firewall isn't blocking the program on your end?

Okay. I am believing the developer is gone. If anyone has any interest, we can continue this coin.  I can code, and I can manage projects. We just need a few other people with some skills who are willing to contribute a little time and effort. Let me know if anyone is interested.

Try 108.9.134.217

Sorry for the late response. An issue at work kept me away for a while. Congrats on finding a solution to the wallet problem - although that should be the job for the developer(s). Any word from him/her/them? Developer involvement seems to be an important part in the success and popularity of a coin, so it would be nice to hear something.

Hurry up.

I probably spoke out of turn. I have no indisputable evidence that the Bitcoin Foundation contacted the U.S. Attorney. I am guessing some things, based on news reports I have read. Here is an example from the two-bit-idiot:

"Due to some angry Gox depositors, I’ve been advised to disclose that Karpeles was overstating the fact that he had “lined up” investors. The truth is, in a move of desperation, Mark asked several investors for a bailout, all of which seemed to have immediately notified the authorities once they learned the extent of the fraud, negligence or incompetence at Mt. Gox."

I don't know for sure who Gox contacted, and I don't know for sure who contacted the authorities. But I am pretty sure the "investors" referred to were not strangers to bitcoin. I believe that the bitcoin foundation (or members of it) were among those contacted, and I believe the bitcoin foundation would have contacted authorities upon learning of the missing coins, but I don't have evidence of that and I can't say it for sure. So if you are looking for proof, I can't help much.

I don't know what Japan will do about the missing Bitcoins. But there is also apparently a lot of fiat currency missing. And I am guessing Japan is adequately equipped to investigate that.

You are right, though. People in this community are able to find out more than law enforcement agencies are. But the community is involved. The Bitcoin Foundation contacted the U.S. Attorney's office as soon as it learned of the magnitude of the situation.

People who are into Bitcoin know that most law enforcement and prosecutors do not have the technical sophistication to understand Bitcoin. But prosecutors do understand theft and fraud. So I applaud whoever contacted the authorities and agreed to provide technical assistance. If Gox retained its records, the truth will come out eventually, with the joint efforts of the bitcoin community and law enforcement.

Several people have reported issues with it, specifically the DNSseed. I'm mining it from a linux box, but my wallet is on a windows machine. No issues with the windows wallet so far.

Gox is (was) so incompetent that fraud doesn't even have to have occurred for me to believe they lost all of the bitcoins.

For what it is worth, I think someone at Gox, or who had physical access to Gox's computers, took the bitcoins (which would be criminal), or that their security was so lax that their cold wallet was not cold and not secure (which would be negligent).

I don't know what happened. But I know what didn't happen. It was not malleability. Malleability would have required two very unlikely things:

#1: Gox losing more than 500 bitcoins a day, every day, from the day they opened until the day they went dark, without noticing. This seems impossible.

#2: Gox customer service honoring requests to re-send lots of large withdrawals over and over again. Even the dimmest customer service agent would get suspicious if someone called every day for three years to say his 500 bitcoins (which would have exceeded the daily withdrawal limit in the first place) had still not arrived.

When bitcoin was started, it wasn't about deregulation. It was about decentralization. And it remains decentralized. Regulation is going to happen. Especially on exchanges that also deal with fiat currency. In fact, several US based exchanges are already dealing with regulation and complying with it. You can expect Bitcoin to remain decentralized. You cannot expect any sort of currency to be allowed to be used to buy drugs, guns, hitmen, etc., or avoid taxation or traceability, without the government getting involved. Regulation is a good thing for honest folks. It is only bad for criminals and tax evaders. Decentralization is good for everyone, though, and that will continue.

What is your other pool?

How much do you think it would take to get the attention of an exchange?

Ok. I just tried to buy some birds with these coins. But the people at the pet shop just looked at me funny. I don't want to alarm anyone, but I am beginning to believe that these coins are not actually exchangeable for birds.

So I now have a gabillion birdcoins. Well, not quite that many, but I have hit several blocks today. But what do I do with them? Print out the keys and frame it and hang it on the wall? Or is someone working on a marketplace? Or getting them on an exchange?