I think we should all consider that this will be getting much worse in the near future. Mt.Gox is NOT licensed to move $USD. Neither are other exchanges, and I fear they will begin having their accounts frozen and wires denied soon. This should come as no surprise.

If you don't like it, you should call your political representatives and give them an ear full. Only they have the power to shape the applicable laws.

Sell something you don't want anymore below it's value.

Hey Rassah, I agree that the foundation seems an unlikely target for this action. Perhaps this is a "shot across the bow" of some sorts? 

You have some reading to do my friend. Not only is money their business, it is their money. ALL COMMERCE IS REGULATED. No exception. Even if you find a gold ring on the street, technically you owe some of it to the government.

Let's get past this foolishness about bitcoin not being regulated. IT IS being regulated while some bitcoiners hide their heads in the sand. The real question is do you want a voice in the regulation process? Or would rather let the government do it for you?

It will be to late when you come here saying "the state took my money!!" The time to act is now, or maybe yesterday.

Have any Cali businesses received this letter? It is thought to have been sent as part of a flotilla of letters, but I have found no others. If it is just the foundation that received this, that is a little weird and provocative.

Here is the letter:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/149335233/CA-State-Cease-and-Desist-May-30


P.S. For those who think we should just disengage from the regulatory process, this is what you can expect more of. Laws written by people who know nothing about bitcoin for people like you who use bitcoin. You can whine about this all you want at the forums, but if instead you wrote your political representatives, you might actually make a difference.  

I don't know who is being quoted here. But the foundation does not have a position like this that I am aware of.  There is zero support for something like a backdoor in bitcoin. And "putting taxation" into bitcoin is basically a non-starter. Who's tax, USA, Poland, Zimbabwe?

I find good SKS prices here:
 http://www.slickguns.com/search/apachesolr_search/sks?title_only=0

Well stated.

Stop all this division! It's like your stealing from me when you say there are only 21k bitcoins. Your new ledger leaves me with only a few Satoshi.

You could also change the name of the file after encryption in order to further disguise it.
It should never be named wallet.dat.pgp or the likes. Try changing wallet.dat.pgp to tankless_water_heater_manual.pdf

Nobody wants a water heater manual.   

You should see all the wicked stuff that is done with *real money.

So they own silicon valley bank? Hmmm... interesting. I believe that was the bank that was going to handle Gox's USA book via coinlab. If they find a way to facilitate dollar exchanges it could ramp up their share price nicely. Unlike some bitcoin businesses, you would have legal recourse if they just took your money. I like your idea man!

I speak and read a little Japanese and find this very interesting. If I remember correctly, "Satoshi" means something like wisdom. A little like "sophia (Σοφíα)" in Greek.  "Nakamoto" is formed by the characters for inside, or sometimes entrance(中)-the character is a mouth with a line going inside; and cause, foundation, or origin (元).-Not to be confused with the character for origin that is the root of a tree.
So Satoshi Nakamoto roughly translates to "Wisdom inside cause".

Now "Okamoto" I am not sure about. I think as a family name I would interpret it to mean "from Okinawa". Tatsuaki is a common boys name meaning something like "attaining the light". So together it might read "Reaching the light from Okinawa".

like the Chinese it is based on, Japanese characters are whole ideas and as such they can be interpreted in different ways. These are also common names and all this may mean nothing. Still kinda cool. 

It's a bummer that this appears to be a scam. He could have found a market as a legitimate business. 

Well, thank you. Hope things are going nicely for you also.

First off, sorry to hear this.  

However, It does not make sense that a multi-million dollar business risked it all to steal your 5 BTC. It looks like your account was hacked. I am going to guess that you are not using two factor authentication. Without that in place stealing your btc is as easy as breaking into a facebook account.

I agree that bitcoin may not be what is regulated, but if you plan on selling bitcoin for $USD then you certainly will be. The USA does not have the power to impose taxation on the world, but it can and does impose a tax on the use of dollars.
All I am saying is that if you think exchanges of fiat for BTC are not going to be regulated, your living in a dream. I have seen people here express their opinion that they do not have to pay taxes because they use bitcoin. Find me an authority who says that. Of course you could use civil disobedience and just refuse. I can respect that. But it will not keep you out of jail.
A better option is to do what people who understand real power do. Take a role in the process of lawmaking.    

People seem to forget that all commerce is regulated in the U.S. Bitcoin will not be some kind of exception. Under any scenario it is subject to regulation. Even the title of this implies that keeping bitcoin "unregulated" is some kind of choice.

I'm sure when next years tax fines are handed out people are going to come and use their energy to complain. They would be better off using that energy now to persuade the people who will decide the legal future of bitcoin.   

also, when checking gunbroker add "bitcoin" to the search, and search the whole description. Increasingly people are taking bitcoin at gunbroker.

  Unprofessional business > meet <  Unsophisticated investor.