Official Gox / CoinLab Integration and Transition FAQ

[jimbobway]

Any news on the transition?

[davidspitzer]

seems to be just tumbleweeds and crickets right now - curious...

A lot of press and buildup and then a seeming withdrawal from updates and movement by Coinlab

[n8rwJeTt8TrrLKPa55eU]

Perhaps Coinlab figured out that teaming up with the single business which has directly excacerbated the two biggest crashes in Bitcoin's history is not a great idea.  If your business associates are incompetent, you will also be perceived as incompetent.

If I was them, I would lay low and not bring this up again, until there was hard evidence that MtGox had deployed an actual working scalable platform that wasn't going to publicly embarrass all participants in front of the watchful eyes of VCs and other big money.

[cypherdoc]

Perhaps Coinlab figured out that teaming up with the single business which has directly excacerbated the two biggest crashes in Bitcoin's history is not a great idea.  If your business associates are incompetent, you will also be perceived as incompetent.

If I was them, I would lay low and not bring this up again, until there was hard evidence that MtGox had deployed an actual working scalable platform that wasn't going to publicly embarrass all participants in front of the watchful eyes of VCs and other big money.

it could just as easily be the other way around.  just what expertise has CoinLab proven to have?

yeah, i'm disappointed in gox's trading platform as well.  but at least he hasn't allowed it to be hacked in almost 2 yrs.

and i'm not sure confining/caging US investors to CoinLab is such a good idea.

[n8rwJeTt8TrrLKPa55eU]

Perhaps Coinlab figured out that teaming up with the single business which has directly excacerbated the two biggest crashes in Bitcoin's history is not a great idea.  If your business associates are incompetent, you will also be perceived as incompetent.

If I was them, I would lay low and not bring this up again, until there was hard evidence that MtGox had deployed an actual working scalable platform that wasn't going to publicly embarrass all participants in front of the watchful eyes of VCs and other big money.

it could just as easily be the other way around.  just what expertise has CoinLab proven to have?

I agree that Coinlab has no good expertise or reputation to speak of.  But Silicon Valley Bank is a major partner, and they definitely do have a reputation to protect.  And ultimately, I'd guess that the people in Coinlab prefer having no reputation whatsoever, to having a bad reputation by association.

My feeling (and others, see below) is that Gox really needs this deal, else they must open a US subsidiary this year or risk being upended by some new entrant.  It's not realistic to expect US customers to be sending wires to Japan indefinitely, or dealing with Japases hours and holidays, etc...the whole thing looks byzantine and unserious.

Japan-based Mt. Gox sees about 80 percent of their traffic originating from North America. The new deal should vastly improve the speed of Mt. Gox account setup and funds clearing which improves overall liquidity. Additionally, with a bank in the U.S. providing smooth transfer of funds, it paves the way for hedge funds and other institutional investors to enter the market because investment charters can sometimes limit new placements to U.S. entities only.

Structurally, with CoinLab providing back-end clearing services and local customer support, Mt. Gox eliminates the need to open a U.S. subsidiary on their own which would have involved a significant investment in administrative overhead.

yeah, i'm disappointed in gox's trading platform as well.  but at least he hasn't allowed it to be hacked in almost 2 yrs.

Doc, our standards in this community are sadly very low at the moment.  Not being hacked in 2 years should not be a badge of honor, a measure of competence, or an unusual achievement.  It should be the minimum expectation for any business holding Bitcoins.

and i'm not sure confining/caging US investors to CoinLab is such a good idea.

Agree, hopefully at least one or two additional US exchanges get launched this year.

[justusranvier]

Doc, our standards in this community are sadly very low at the moment.  Not being hacked in 2 years should not be a badge of honor, a measure of competence, or an unusual achievement.  It should be the minimum expectation for any business holding Bitcoins.

You see Bitcoin years are similar to dog years. 2 calendar years is about 150 years ago in Bitcoin terms. Ancient times.

[cypherdoc]

It's not realistic to expect US customers to be sending wires to Japan indefinitely, or dealing with Japases hours and holidays, etc...the whole thing looks byzantine and unserious.

i have to say that i think there are alot of US investors who would like to keep it this way (as in out of the US).

[Elokane]

Does anyone how many users MtGox actually has currently? I'm wondering about the size of the entire Bitcoin market.

[n8rwJeTt8TrrLKPa55eU]

It's not realistic to expect US customers to be sending wires to Japan indefinitely, or dealing with Japases hours and holidays, etc...the whole thing looks byzantine and unserious.

i have to say that i think there are alot of US investors who would like to keep it this way.

Ha ha, yes, I understand that sentiment, several times the past couple of years I have also felt grateful and lucky that Bitcoin was off the radar and buying was just too hard for the average person.

But alas, the cat's fully out of the bag with last month's giant wave of press coverage, we are now on an unstoppable express train to either heaven or hell, and personally I'd like to get there as fast as possible.

[candoo]

Coinlab is still working on it???

[proudhon]

Coinlab is still working on it???

I guess.  I haven't seen any announcements in a while.  Though, I did notice that their about page not lists Jodie Brady as their CFO, which, unless I missed it, is something new.

[italeffect]

Seriously last update March 21st? I just don't understand why folks running these businesses can't do basic PR.

It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a really a small note saying "we're working on it".... would make all the difference.

Or perhaps if I was a member of the Bitcoin Foundation I would be in the know.

[Severian]

Or perhaps if I was a member of the Bitcoin Foundation I would be in the know.

I'm a lifetime member. They don't tell us squat.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

Here's a video of what I think is Peter Wessenes. I also think he has a father with the same name, but a different middle initial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7S9aK22ld0

To me, he seems a bit high strung as a person, and from what I could find from google, he's helped starting a dozen different businesses?

Look how he's constantly moving around in that video, like he can't sit still. Will he have a long term involvement with CoinLab and bitcoin in general, or will he jump to a new exciting project in a couple of years ?

According to Bitcoin 2013: Brown University with an Sc.B. in Theoretical Mathematics, and an emphasis in cryptography.

That in itself sounds impressive.

And also, why's Tihan Seale invested in CoinLab, didn't he lose enough in the Bitcoinica scandal ? And what about Nefario, why did Peter Wessenes and Mike Koss want to work with him ?

http://www.geekwire.com/2011/coinlab-center-bitcoin-projects-created-seattle/

Are these guys to be trusted, or are we looking into a new clusterfuck to happen ?

I honestly can't believe what I'm seeing and reading. I'm lost for words.

Madness!

[repentance]

Seriously last update March 21st? I just don't understand why folks running these businesses can't do basic PR.

It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just a really a small note saying "we're working on it".... would make all the difference.

Or perhaps if I was a member of the Bitcoin Foundation I would be in the know.

I doubt that "we're about to sue MtGox" is something they wanted to advertise.

[Herodes]

[...]

I honestly can't believe what I'm seeing and reading. I'm lost for words.

Madness!

Would you care to elaborate - was it one of your famous humorous pennings ? 

[Phinnaeus Gage]

[...]

I honestly can't believe what I'm seeing and reading. I'm lost for words.

Madness!

Would you care to elaborate - was it one of your famous humorous pennings ? 

The very last line of your post I quoted, coupled with the recent $75M lawsuit.

[Herodes]

[...]

I honestly can't believe what I'm seeing and reading. I'm lost for words.

Madness!

Would you care to elaborate - was it one of your famous humorous pennings ? 

The very last line of your post I quoted, coupled with the recent $75M lawsuit.

Yes I can see that. I had many questions for Vess, and I can understand that some of them seemed offputting and alienating to him, but really - I would have nothing else for the community than successful exchanges, I really don't want drama to unfold like this. And besides, I think if you have good intentions, you have nothing to fear from people asking hard questions. Then your ACTIONS over time will prove that you're trustworthy. For what it's worth, Mark has proven over time that he is to be trusted, and I do trust him. But as for Vess I had many questions, and now this..

[jubalix]

Let be realistic CNY is a different social os, fraught with issues,

however, they are less likely to kill an enterprise that makes them money and gives the potential openings in emerging areas and outs they want.

Bitcoin is fully illegal in China, and our negotiations with the local government so far have been without success.

Either way let's be realistic here. Most of our customers are located in countries such as US, Europe and others. Running away to Vietnam or China would make it basically impossible for us to receive or send funds to anyone in those countries.

back to JPY....a nightmare for the US to try and enforce anything at all or at least quickly and not always on the friendliest terms with regional neighbors

Japanese government is friendly to US, and also implements things such as FACTA. Also the US government can pressure any bank worldwide by threatening of cutting them off USD. A bank in any country that can not transfer USD anymore is of no use to anyone. US government has been doing this so far to get accounts held by "terrorists" (people linked to North Korea, mafia, actual terrorists, etc) and while Bitcoin is still too small to get this kind of response, it's a good idea to stay friendly with the US govt. at this point and let Bitcoin grow and gain in legitimacy.


Anyway none of this advice is actually applicable as it would shut us from our customers, makes us unable to hold any USD and potentially limit our transfer solutions to non-conventional methods (liberty reserve, webmoney, etc...).

We are doing our best to see Bitcoin grow as an actual alternative to the existing system, but until Bitcoin is large enough to stand on its own, we need the current system to accept and support us.

Its "fully illegal" because there is a very specific way to approach things in china,  and its not by asking if it legal from some CNY govt dept in the first instance, you are almost always going to get a "no" because some relatively low level functionary (who got there by being conservative)...that first official rebuke acts like a red light to every other fiefdom in cny

You have to really know who to get your proposal seen by and it does not start by getting rulling's from govts

it starts in a much more sideaways manner by finding the right local quasi govt "company" to partner with, perhaps changing later...and then going from there, you would not even start out as $btc exchange but IT transaction consultancy.

and you wouldn't be doing it in manner to shut out anyone, if you set it up right....

anyhow...the scope of what your doing if you believe in what you are doing will come to fruition requires a lot more seeding and thought about where you backups and bases are...and the implications of what you are doing....you may force the hand of the people who can quickly shut you down.

sure it all "look" great going into the know USA/CAD western environment but that the genius of the system

Now, lets take a look a month or so on. I recommended Don't Go to the US, Tux shot me down.

Just touch the US and get sued for $75M (not even Gov, by your "partner"),  if that is a legit law suit (pacer has it but I expected to see an Official Court Stamp Somewhere)

BitCoin trades in CNY and CNC now comes out based in CNC, so much for "illegal" in CNY. The whole concept of Illegal in CNY is very different in CNY to West. I mean even Civil law and Common law are quite different.

If anything my position was way too conservative....stay clear of the US....until you are in a really really strong position, and have iron clad indemnity clauses from any US "partner" before you get in bed with them in anyway!!!

I hope I am wrong and some how this law suit is fake, or gets dismissed, but I humbly suggest you need to get some long term strategic planners in there at Gx, if your serious about seeing this all through....

[repentance]

I hope I am wrong and some how this law suit is fake, or gets dismissed, but I humbly suggest you need to get some long term strategic planners in there at Gx, if your serious about seeing this all through.

Apart from the documents being on PACER, CoinLab has confirmed they've filed suit and Mark has confirmed that he's aware of them filing.