PR: Mt.Gox responds to Reuters “We want bitcoin to be understood” article

[MagicalTux]

June 16th, 2011 - Tokyo (JP)

MT.GOX RESPONDS TO REUTERS “WE WANT BITCOIN TO BE UNDERSTOOD” ARTICLE

Last week Brett Wolf sent us an email hoping we would respond to some of the recent controversies surrounding the Silk Road website. At the time we were unable to respond (they are subject to email response delays, just like everyone else), but after seeing his article about it and reading the mention that “Mt.Gox could not be contacted” we decided to reach out. Like any good reporter, he poked and prodded us a bit about our stance on Silk Road and we advised we have no opinion on the matter, but cummunicated that we did send a letter to the DEA to assert our position in the bitcoin economy, and to shed some light on bitcoin itself to try and put to rest any misconceptions.

We believe this initial contact with the DEA is of the utmost importance for the immediate future of bitcoin. The letter ended by saying that we will comply with any court sanctioned investigations and that they are invited to contact us to better understand not only what we do but what bitcoin is. We don’t really think this should be shocking to the bitcoin community as we will be legally obligated to regardless. Also, I think it is safe to say that we do not intend to enable illegal activities or have blood on our hands by association, so to speak.


A realization must be made, and that is due to nature of exchanges we are forced to deal with banks and therefor need to stay within the boundaries the regulatory bodies have set. What we intend to do in the future is to stifle and hopefully stop those boarders from closing in on us. We are not here to flip the economic system on it’s head, nor do we believe it is necessary for that to happen in order for bitcoin to be a player in world markets. We have to exist and exercise our right to do business from within the confines of the system.

Going forward, we are going to be walking a very thin line with how to proceed with promoting and backing bitcoin. It will not do Mt.Gox or the bitcoin community any good if we are not willing to comply with the laws we are subject to and are consequently shut down. In fact, doing so would only work to taint bitcoins public image and negate any public recourse we might otherwise garner (the media is llouder than the bitcoin community, unfortunately). That being said, bitcoin will be successful in it’s own way and is not intrinsically tied to the future of Mt.Gox. Likely as time goes on bitcoin will become less and less reliant on our exchange, which in many ways is a good thing as it diversifies the communities portfolio, so to speak and would result in less heat being put on us too. However, the reality is that with Mt.Gox being the current mainstay in the bitcoin economy the immediate future of bitcoin is heavily reliant on the public and political perceptions of what we do, and how we do it. So we will continue to keep an open door policy with any and all agencies and governments so long as they are willing to understand bitcoin and work within the law.

We understand many people in the community won’t agree, and will look at our exchange (and others) as needing to have a mutually exclusive relationship with bitcoin. We see that on an ideological front, this is likely true, however to have bitcoin take on critical mass we believe exchanges are very necessary entities and are likely the only way politicians, banks and governments will let bitcoin continue on to legitimacy.

We invite the community to vet our position intelligently on the public forums, and we will chime in from time to time.

-The Mt.Gox Team

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[cschmitz]

I think this is a great step forward for bitcoin, thanks for your effort and put on the "Silkroad fanboi attacks incoming" Flakjacket.

[lemonginger]

Can you post the text of the letter you sent to the DEA?

[duckfeet]

Can you post the text of the letter you sent to the DEA?

I just hope they're doing only the minimum required by law, and not getting all carried away...if they start taking a political stance, most of us libertarians will bail.  I'd like to see that letter also.  Still, bitcoins are like money, in that sense...once it leaves the ftGox, seems it's kind of anybody's game...but they start trying to help out some zealous DEA agent, wanting to make a name for himself, we be doomed. 

[Bind]

I am getting the scent of the "anything-to-add-legitimacy-to-bitcoin" shitpile wafting through those words.

Of course you should cooperate with authorities when, and only when, you are legally required to do so. Not if you are not legally required to do so.

If you bow to government and law enforcement pressure without court orders or absolute legal requirements, you are not serving your customers interests at all.

When you get a request for cooperation, the very first thing you need to ask yourself is, "Am I legally required to do this under this specific circumstance", and if not, do not, and if you are required under law to do it, then by all means do it.

Anything less is just another company selling out their customers, who cares more about the legitimacy of bitcoin and their own wallet than they do their customers or their customers rights. You know, those people who allow you to stay in business and succeed.

I think Mt Gox needs to respond to us and tell us under what specific circumstances they will be cooperating, and everyone stop trading through them until they do respond ... preferably in writing and on their sites TOS and Privacy Policy.

Last thing I needs is the authorities on a fishing expedition knocking on my door because I bought or sold some bitcoins that someone else may have used, or will use, for nefarious purposes.

I think ONLY  under legal and required circumstances (court orders), all bitcoin business should cooperate with the law. Not to appease an outraged and out of control legislator, general public, or governments, and certainly not make bitcoins appear more legitimate.

[LightRider]

First the CIA and now the DEA? The fuzz is getting thick around here.

One thing you fail to understand is that governments and agencies do not care about the law nor do they abide by it. It is a game set up so that they win at every level and in every case.

[MagicalTux]

I think ONLY  under legal and required circumstances (court orders), all bitcoin business should cooperate with the law. Not to appease an outraged and out of control legislator, general public, or governments, and certainly not make bitcoins appear more legitimate.

That is we intend to do.

I do not want however to see US politicians go all over the place claiming incorrect things about Bitcoin, just because they are ignorant. They will cause global misinformation as whatever they say is echoed broadly.

We will comply to court orders valid under our jurisdiction after our lawyers confirm there is no other recourse available.

[lemonginger]

I think that is wise. My request for text wasn't meant as criticism more as curiosity.

It is clear that exchanges are the choke points in the system and it would be wise for exchanges to be completely above board with their intentions and stay on as good as terms as possible with regulating bodies. It would also be wise for all exchanges to very explicitly say what they will and won't do or could be forced to do via various court orders along with their privacy policies, etc.

[royalecraig]

The Biggest Drug Runners are the Govt, Don't let them in.
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cia+drug+running+wayne+madsen+alex+jones

[CalibrataBG]

They will try to shut us down sooner or later. Governments don't like a currency they can't control or monitor. Bitcoin is just too good to be true.

[Vinnie]

While I applaud and cheer on Silkroad and its users, I also understand the need for Mt. Gox to run a business under the jurisdiction of applicable nation states. I'd encourage Silkroad users to take the proper steps in ensuring their anonymity. Use Tor and buy your bitcoins with cash.

[duckfeet]

One thing I do know: this has made TradeHill look a whole lot better to me....Mt.Gox needed the competition anyway...

[royalecraig]

Govt and Hackers and all sorts of ner do wells are likely to be targeting Bitcoin, it's time to get VERY serious over security, Hackers will already be scouring the net, probing computer defences for unencrypted wallets.

Free Security Options
http://www.thefreecountry.com/security/index.shtml

Anonymous Peer to Peer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I2P

Was also thinking of passwords interfaces, I'm no expert on cryptography, but I know of such things like keyloggers etc, I was thinking what would be the worst case scenario and how would I defend against it If I had the necessary coding skills, I might try with AutIT later see what I can come up with, and I thought the worst case scenario would be if the thief, hacker, were watching over your shoulder as you were logging in, perhaps with CCTV.
So my suggestion might be the GUI, when it opens up should scramble the login buttons around randomly, that would help defeat keyboard loggers.
The Letters on the individual keys could be catchpa like letters chosen by the user with the ability to change them, then the Password, itself could be a meaningless sentence, 'elephantsandfrogspreviewletTuce' the login asks not for the whole password but 4 or 5 of the letters, EG what is the 7th letter of your password.

Thus the scrambling of the keys randomly each use might thwart keyloggers, and even if there were CCTV, the catchpa letters would make recognition difficult and even if the hacker were standing over your shoulder he'd still have no idea what your pass word or phrase was.
Even better if the file you were unencrypting would be automatically encrypted again after a specified time.

Perhaps if anyone is writing secure log in and encryption tools, they could have the option whereby people pick and choose various option, keyboard layouts, scrambling codes etc so the finished product is personalised in someway.

[MtGox_Adam]

One thing I do know: this has made TradeHill look a whole lot better to me....Mt.Gox needed the competition anyway...

I'm not saying this because I work for Mt.Gox but... as an investor trust is paramount and when using an exchange, I would MUCH rather trust the guys "playing by the rules" than the ones who do not intend to (not saying that is the case with TradeHill). Who's more likely to get their accounts locked up? If there is even 1 user that the DEA/CIA/FBI/Whoever has the legal authority to investigate, and an exchange doesn't cooperate, they will freeze the accounts, block the domain, or do whatever they can to stop it. That situation makes for a lot of other innocent bystandards using that exchange, don't you think?

[Swishercutter]

One thing I do know: this has made TradeHill look a whole lot better to me....Mt.Gox needed the competition anyway...

Who is to say they are not doing the same and not disclosing it?  I prefer full disclosure in this matter.

[wangxinxi]

Yes, so more employers and workers will be on my website. 

[Bind]

I do not want however to see US politicians go all over the place claiming incorrect things about Bitcoin, just because they are ignorant. They will cause global misinformation as whatever they say is echoed broadly.

Politicians have been doing that for thousands of years. Kowtowing to them in an act of servile deference isnt going to stop it. They lie cheat, steal, and use anything they can to pump themselves upon an upcoming election year.

By releasing your manifesto here at bitcoin, you are preaching to the chior. Try releasing it to people that can get the word out ... journalists and media sources. Not that they will actually air or print any of it as it does not fall into lock-step with their manipulation agenda.