Do you think blockchain.info can face the same situation as mtgox?

[hensi]

Recently gox had problems because of the melleability issue. and a few days back blockchain also went into maintainance mode. can there be something wrong like gox with the blockchain?

[odolvlobo]

The situation can be similar in some limited ways. People that have been negligent about backing up their wallets will lose their coins if the site goes away. Also, your coins are stuck while the site is offline (if you don't want to move your wallet).

[iambk]

mt.gox took a special blend of incompetence, arrogance, stupidity and fraud that only Mark Karpeles can offer.

I think blockchain.info offers different services than mt.gox?  I've never used it but after reading their blog entries on the outage it sounds like users maintain their own wallets on blockchain.info rather than allowing them to be swallowed up but giant wallets that Mark Karpeles can show off on irc.

[sangaman]

Not at all, many people here don't seem to understand what the blockchain.info wallet service is. It's not like gox, it's not like inputs.io, bitfunder, or whatever. It's more like the bitcoin.org QT wallet than any of those services. To be more accurate, it's like Electrum except it runs in your browser and stores an encrypted copy of your wallet online (while the password to decrypt the wallet stays with you). If Electrum servers go down then the Electrum client won't work, but the Electrum creators wouldn't be able to steal or lose your coins. When blockchain.info is down, I can still access my coins by importing my private keys into a different client.

[Bit_Happy]

Not at all, many people here don't seem to understand what the blockchain.info wallet service is. It's not like gox, it's not like inputs.io, bitfunder, or whatever. It's more like the bitcoin.org QT wallet than any of those services. To be more accurate, it's like Electrum except it runs in your browser and stores an encrypted copy of your wallet online (while the password to decrypt the wallet stays with you). If Electrum servers go down then the Electrum client won't work, but the Electrum creators wouldn't be able to steal or lose your coins. When blockchain.info is down, I can still access my coins by importing my private keys into a different client.

Some people won't bother to read your great post:
blockchain.info cannot steal or lose your coins, they never really have control, you do.

[BitOnyx]

blockchain is working now.

People get very panicky recently.

[techgeek]

I`m not sure why most people think a wallet is like an exchange.

If thats the case, they need to do some serious homework. 1st of all we are the only ones to have the private keys, not Mt.Gox which had all our keys which is the fundamental huge difference.

As long you back up your wallet, your fine.

[iambk]

Shouldn't it be possible for an exchange to let users maintain their own wallet?  When a user wants to trade BTC for fiat they'd obviously need to send the BTC to an exchange wallet of course and yes that would take some time but after the mt.gox fiasco that seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.

[odolvlobo]

Shouldn't it be possible for an exchange to let users maintain their own wallet?  When a user wants to trade BTC for fiat they'd obviously need to send the BTC to an exchange wallet of course and yes that would take some time but after the mt.gox fiasco that seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.

That is already the way it is except you have to transfer bitcoins and cash before you sell, not afterward. Afterward won't work very well because either party can always change their mind.

[cAPSLOCK]

There is a lot wrong with this OP.

1.  blockchain.info is not the blockchain.
2.  blockchain.info is not an exchange.
3.  blockchain.info does not take deposits.
4.  blockchain.info does not have access to your private keys much less your coins.
5.  blockchain.info can go away completely and you can import your keys into multibit.

[iambk]

Shouldn't it be possible for an exchange to let users maintain their own wallet?  When a user wants to trade BTC for fiat they'd obviously need to send the BTC to an exchange wallet of course and yes that would take some time but after the mt.gox fiasco that seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.

That is already the way it is except you have to transfer bitcoins and cash before you sell, not afterward. Afterward won't work very well because either party can always change their mind.

I was thinking a per-user wallet where the user kept the private keys rather than the exchange.  It would be less convenient but if the exchange went out of business at least the user would still have their wallet.

When trading BTC the exchange would have to supply the escrow wallet between the two users doing the transaction.

[odolvlobo]

Shouldn't it be possible for an exchange to let users maintain their own wallet?  When a user wants to trade BTC for fiat they'd obviously need to send the BTC to an exchange wallet of course and yes that would take some time but after the mt.gox fiasco that seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.

That is already the way it is except you have to transfer bitcoins and cash before you sell, not afterward. Afterward won't work very well because either party can always change their mind.

I was thinking a per-user wallet where the user kept the private keys rather than the exchange.  It would be less convenient but if the exchange went out of business at least the user would still have their wallet.

When trading BTC the exchange would have to supply the escrow wallet between the two users doing the transaction.

Again, that is no different than the way it currently works. "per-user wallet" = your wallet, wherever it exists. "escrow wallet" = exchange wallet.

[hensi]

Not at all, many people here don't seem to understand what the blockchain.info wallet service is. It's not like gox, it's not like inputs.io, bitfunder, or whatever. It's more like the bitcoin.org QT wallet than any of those services. To be more accurate, it's like Electrum except it runs in your browser and stores an encrypted copy of your wallet online (while the password to decrypt the wallet stays with you). If Electrum servers go down then the Electrum client won't work, but the Electrum creators wouldn't be able to steal or lose your coins. When blockchain.info is down, I can still access my coins by importing my private keys into a different client.

thanks man! got it!

[iambk]

Shouldn't it be possible for an exchange to let users maintain their own wallet?  When a user wants to trade BTC for fiat they'd obviously need to send the BTC to an exchange wallet of course and yes that would take some time but after the mt.gox fiasco that seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.

That is already the way it is except you have to transfer bitcoins and cash before you sell, not afterward. Afterward won't work very well because either party can always change their mind.

I was thinking a per-user wallet where the user kept the private keys rather than the exchange.  It would be less convenient but if the exchange went out of business at least the user would still have their wallet.

When trading BTC the exchange would have to supply the escrow wallet between the two users doing the transaction.

Again, that is no different than the way it currently works. "per-user wallet" = your wallet, wherever it exists. "escrow wallet" = exchange wallet.

I don't have the keys to a mt.gox or btc-e wallet with my funds in it, nor is there a user-specific wallet out there holding said funds.

[clownius]

Shouldn't it be possible for an exchange to let users maintain their own wallet?  When a user wants to trade BTC for fiat they'd obviously need to send the BTC to an exchange wallet of course and yes that would take some time but after the mt.gox fiasco that seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.

That is already the way it is except you have to transfer bitcoins and cash before you sell, not afterward. Afterward won't work very well because either party can always change their mind.

I was thinking a per-user wallet where the user kept the private keys rather than the exchange.  It would be less convenient but if the exchange went out of business at least the user would still have their wallet.

When trading BTC the exchange would have to supply the escrow wallet between the two users doing the transaction.

Again, that is no different than the way it currently works. "per-user wallet" = your wallet, wherever it exists. "escrow wallet" = exchange wallet.

I don't have the keys to a mt.gox or btc-e wallet with my funds in it, nor is there a user-specific wallet out there holding said funds.

Its called use your own damned wallet (Bittorrent has many such apps) unless actively trading at the time.  Anything sitting on an exchange could evaporate tomorrow.  If you haven’t worked that out yet......

[rammy2k2]

I`m not sure why most people think a wallet is like an exchange.

If thats the case, they need to do some serious homework. 1st of all we are the only ones to have the private keys, not Mt.Gox which had all our keys which is the fundamental huge difference.

As long you back up your wallet, your fine.

+1

[iambk]

Shouldn't it be possible for an exchange to let users maintain their own wallet?  When a user wants to trade BTC for fiat they'd obviously need to send the BTC to an exchange wallet of course and yes that would take some time but after the mt.gox fiasco that seems like a reasonable tradeoff to me.

That is already the way it is except you have to transfer bitcoins and cash before you sell, not afterward. Afterward won't work very well because either party can always change their mind.

I was thinking a per-user wallet where the user kept the private keys rather than the exchange.  It would be less convenient but if the exchange went out of business at least the user would still have their wallet.

When trading BTC the exchange would have to supply the escrow wallet between the two users doing the transaction.

Again, that is no different than the way it currently works. "per-user wallet" = your wallet, wherever it exists. "escrow wallet" = exchange wallet.

I don't have the keys to a mt.gox or btc-e wallet with my funds in it, nor is there a user-specific wallet out there holding said funds.

Its called use your own damned wallet (Bittorrent has many such apps) unless actively trading at the time.  Anything sitting on an exchange could evaporate tomorrow.  If you haven’t worked that out yet......

No it isn't.  A bitcoin wallet is a very specific thing.  Mt.gox didn't allow users to maintain their own wallets.  Blockchain.info does.