I think they can be shady and incompetent assholes and the scene would be better off without everything they've ever come up with, but I don't think they're outright thieves.

It's their property. It's also a vast amount of property. That would be a monstrous and injection into their business. I assume anyone personally liable has long since been paid back and paid off.

The address is published here https://btc-etc.com/product/#cryptocurrencyetps in the 'structure' section of the technical data tab after clicking 'more'.

This one gives a clearer impression of the growth rate - https://bitinfocharts.com/bitcoin/address/35pgGeez3ou6ofrpjt8T7bvC9t6RrUK4p6

Early days still but impressively rapid. Nearly 2000 BTC added in a week.

I didn't realise they had a public address but this it is apparently for anyone interested - https://www.blockchain.com/btc/address/35pgGeez3ou6ofrpjt8T7bvC9t6RrUK4p6

It'll be intriguing to see how rapidly it grows. I'm now pondering having a small dabble.

Would that be their call to make? Not sure where their law is based and who is investigating.

Yes, I would be more than slightly nervous about having any dealings with them, however those coins are a giant burden and I'd be keen to get it off my back. There won't be too many options.

https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/494

Bitfinex have just posted an exceedingly large reward to get these coins recovered, 25% of the total if the hacker themselves returns it.

That might set up a rather unfortunate precedent in future. If I were the thief I wonder what course of action I'd take.

Like meeeeeeeeeee.

The reputation section serves as a large warning basically. That nothing good comes of getting involved in the delusions and evils of others and that there are always people more mad, more petty, more pathetic, more vindictive, more deluded, more vicious and with longer memories and more time out there than you.

They are best left to stew in their own juices.

Not once has it ever, ever occurred to me to use them. I've heard of some very heavy duty KYC requirements from them and they have no problem freezing funds. It sounds like you need to be in their inner circle to get decent banking, and even then it might be in an obscure place millions of miles away that takes days or weeks.

Many people in many places have access to somewhere with domestic banking that is not Coinbase. And I'll bet it's only us lot who hate Coinbase too, or noobs say they hate it to look cool.

Hmm. I'll have to double check what rate I'm getting for GBP. Yours is worse than I thought it would be.



Well, no one should be surprised by that. It's the same for any other card though I can imagine they load it a bit and any prepaid card is likely to be higher. My normal bank debit card adds 2.75% to any foreign currency transaction.

You have to either pay for a premium bank account with that perk or go for some puppet show app like Revolut.

Buyers will be absolutely delighted to relieve long time holders of their coins who are looking for an exit for what they feel is a decent price. They've got to come from somewhere and there won't be very many people willing to let go of them if they've been here for this long.

We can talk about piddly bubbles when it is reaching saturation and anyone who ever will own it does own it. Until then everyone here should forget about their own expectations. They will be steamrollered by all those millions and billions who are not here yet. They're the ones who define the future, not us, and they outnumber us to a ludicrous extent.

People need to step outside themselves and try to conceive of the sheer scale of what's beyond the little bone box they live in. It's a whole lot bigger than many are capable of conceiving. Everyone should do their best to manage it as it could be the difference between blowing it or winning to face melting extent.

I would never donate through here. It doesn't matter what it is, who it is or how convincing they are. If I felt strongly enough about a cause I would seek out someone dealing with it on an existing basis and force some BTC on them.

I will do absolutely nothing. It will be a signal for the start of the next phase of growth, not the end of it.

We had similar threads about what would happen when it returned to the $1200 area. Imagine how you'd feel if you'd gotten rid then, though if that figure met the cost of all your dreams and requirements then more power to you.

All he has to do is pass on the charge. It's not as if buyers will find a seller who magically swallows the cost on their behalf. This is a fundamental part of how Bitcoin works and there's no avoiding it.

I would've thought many people who bought at the peak in 2017 would be long gone.

And very, very few newbies would use Bitfinex or would have. I'm really not sure who does use it to be honest. At the height of the madness Bitfinex restricted new account openings to high deposits and their banking has come and gone so many times most people would be turned off.

Almost every other platform is easier to get money in and out of.

That is... bad. If you made use of all of their services you could be throwing away a LOT of money. I only use it for one thing - sending BTC, converting it and spending it on the card. I have better options for the other stuff.

It would be interesting if someone put together a thread comparing the costs of each service doing everyday things - depositing, sending, converting. People might be surprised at how quickly it adds up.

Allowing withdrawals after the KYC card has been played would interfere with Hitbtc's 'business model'. As soon as they hit you with that your money isn't going anywhere other than their own pocket unless you're lucky.

It is money donated to the forum and the people handing it over do it for the benefit of the forum. The needy can set up their own donation addresses somewhere.

You can read about it on the donation page here - https://bitcointalk.org/donate.html

"The Bitcoin Forum is a website meant to host free discussion of Bitcoin and related topics. It is operated mainly as a service to the community, and the vast majority of income after expenses is either saved for future expenses or reinvested into the forum or the community."

The original thread about it is here - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=38071.0

As you can see when it began a donation of 10 BTC was enough to pay for one month of site hosting.

I would've thought you could charge far more in a place where Bitcoin isn't legal. Even in places where it is fully legal P2P trades can often be way above the market rate especially when the market is heating up.

If I ran a business where a fundamental part of its cost was completely out my control I would either carefully plan how to handle an explosion in that cost, or find another business where I did have complete control. The obvious one is to pass on the cost to the buyer. The cost is right there in public for them to see if they moan about it.

It was pretty much the least harmful hack that could've happened. I hope it's a wake up call to platforms with this much influence. If moronic brats can do this then you need to get your shit together and fast.

As soon it was mentioned the address had previous they were clearly toast. Mind boggling stupidity on their part.

I've used it since 2014 without any problems at all. I don't make use of its advanced features and I do find it to be a badly designed site.

Their USD options in the past have all been crappy third party processors. I don't know if that's improved in recent times but unless it had I wouldn't use Kraken for USD. The EUR options are very solid.



This has been reported too many times by too many different people for it not to be something potentially on their side and not one other exchange has had these problems as far as I can see. I would like to see this identified and solved before feeling more confident in it.

Here's a brand spanking new chart from the little fella who got this thread rolling in the first place all those years ago if you like that sort of thing.

https://www.tradingview.com/chart/BTCUSD/BiymtBy3-Some-short-term-thoughts/

He seems to be in a rather confident mood.



For better or worse you will make more money on the shitforks getting in now than you will on BTC in a bubbly scenario, and exiting at the right moment of course. That's not tasteful but it's almost certainly true. It's 'Bitcoin' but it's 'cheaper' and that shit never gets old for the waves of hungry newcomers. They will never die. They may fade over time but not this time.