I don't understand cryptography lol but I understand open source, what's to stop someone from making something entirely new that NSA can't touch? While I can understand the fear I am also very skeptical because a lot of the people who work in government are, lets face it, old white people who couldn't open up a word document without any help.

Never underestimate the intellectual capacity of an angry child with an internet connection and a keyboard.

Listed maybe, but not available.

"Sorry, we are unable to generate a view of the document at this time. Please try again later."

The main red flag here (as other things are really technicalities that don't really say much on if someone were to invest) is you come and ask 25000$ without having a very detailed report on the intent of those funds. As a financial entity you owe yourself and potential investors to know the exact amount you need and for exactly what. Of course a "cushion fund" is granted, but the whole lot can't be a cushion.

I was referring specifically to your claim to be a "Deposit Taker" - that's a term with a specific meaning.

Investment companies are NOT necessarily Deposit Takers (most aren't).

The Act I linked to specifically deals with the management of deposit takers who AREN'T banks.  Banks are dealt with seperately.

I'm not disputing that SOME of your listed areas of business can be conducted without need for a license.  I AM disputing:

1.  That you're licensed to do anything (you aren't - you're just registered as intending to conduct certain business).
2.  That you can be a Deposit Taker without a license (you can hold and manage funds no problem - but that's not the same thing).

Here's a quote from the FSPR website i nregards to who has to reigster (link : http://www.business.govt.nz/fsp/about-the-fspr/frequently-asked-questions-faqs/registration-who/who-must-register-as-a-financial-service-provider)

"Some people will have to register regardless of the location of their place of business, because they provide a licensed financial service and their licensing authority requires them to register.  Individuals or companies unsure as to whether or not they will be required to register should seek their own independent legal advice."

That makes it entirely clear that licensing (where required) is something entirely different to the registration that they offer/require.

So either stop claiming to be licensed or get licensed.

WoT can be easily manipulated.   

The idea of making a sane and functional competitor for that BTCJam atrocity is good.

The notion that you'd be the one to do it is laughable.

There needs to be someone competent, well known (this strictly means WoT heavyweight and nothing else) and capitalized doing it.

Contract wise (even though I don't really agree with the operator(s), but that also didn't keep me from mining at Eligius...) and transparency wise MPEX is unfortunately the only place that can shine. They release statements regularly, have contracts that consist of more than "Check out the forum thread at X" and even though the UX is horrible, they manage to keep their site alive and their users trading.

All in all (as much hate Nefario has gotte over time) I miss GLBSE not because of it's interface (I used it already when it was a command line application... *shudder*) but because at least before the GLBSE 2.0 times it was easy and possible to have features implemented that you might want to have, they have never been hacked and even after they suddenly went big Nefario tried his best (up to the stage of burn out) to make sure it was constantly improved.

On the other hand he took some quick and sometimes harsh decisions (Goat...) on his own which a bit conflicted with his general image - nobody gives a damn if MPOE-PR spews bile and swears at any new potential start-up because that's kinda expected from her. Nefario however was kinda expected to be some kind of nice old grandpa that silently watches over his thriving stock exchange and smiling + nodding all the time while on the other hand improving both the backend and the frontend at the same time, since he anyways earned millions (MILLIONS!) with all that trading going on...

Still I miss GLBSE, the current markets look rather like the next Bitcoinica (done over a weekend) to me and I for sure am not going to trust them with any serious amount of coin.