Here is the Seizure Warrant

[jamesgarfield]

There are two sad realities here.

1) I have absolutely zero confidence in the MtGox legal defense team

2) If MtGox goes down, it will be a loooong time before bitcoin can recover

Hopefully someone can provide some relief

I disagree, if MTGOX is down I think BTC will be free from there grip and new exchanges will pop up everywhere, increasing Bitcoins price. Just my opinion

[CasinoBit]

"Honorable"

[jamesgarfield]

FBI Is trying to bring down Bitcoin, after all, its their job they are hired to protect the federal monetary system.

[Namealreadyexists]

seal team 7 have captured Mark Karpeles he will be given a traditional muslim burial at sea. thats all folks.

Tyrannosaurus, mtgoxaurus, who cares, as long as I can fill up my gas tank with what's left of them.

[phelix]

MtGox removed the info about the Dwolla account seizure from their website...    hmmm.

[Darktongue]

Frankly gox has to much control over bitcoin prices. In a sence it's what makes the system a fail.  The idea that gox shits the bed and crypto falls makes it a central base of operation.  Something I thought crypto sought not to be. Further the scary fact here is the access the fed was granted to see all them dollars going out to poor sons of bitches  who wher under the impression that privacy was being held.  How deep will this eagles dick bury into the asshole of this community is my question.  

[abbyd]

The application made by M. Karpeles for the bank account which stated they were not in the money transmitting business is also going to hurt. Perhaps he can argue that the account was originally intended for a different use. It will sort of depend on when it was linked to Dwolla.

Overall, this seems like more trouble for Mt. Gox arising from their unprofessional practices.

Slow down - FinCEN "guidelines" were only published a month ago, which lumped bitcoin exchanges in with other MSBs. Karpeles filled out the form in 2011. The law that DHS is invoking may not even APPLY to bitcoin - they'll have to prove that BTC is money!  Maybe the Feds chose DHS to do this because they a) have nothing to do in those air-conditioned offices, and b) are some of the slowest-moving bureaucrats on the face of the earth...

[crumbcake]

The application made by M. Karpeles for the bank account which stated they were not in the money transmitting business is also going to hurt. Perhaps he can argue that the account was originally intended for a different use. It will sort of depend on when it was linked to Dwolla.

Overall, this seems like more trouble for Mt. Gox arising from their unprofessional practices.

Slow down - FinCEN "guidelines" were only published a month ago, which lumped bitcoin exchanges in with other MSBs. Karpeles filled out the form in 2011. The law that DHS is invoking may not even APPLY to bitcoin - they'll have to prove that BTC is money!  Maybe the Feds chose DHS to do this because they a) have nothing to do in those air-conditioned offices, and b) are some of the slowest-moving bureaucrats on the face of the earth...

The proposed DHS budget for 2014 is 35.5 billion dollars, and the department is eager to show some bang for the buck.  Protecting us from fake bombs that DHS itself provides to the ghetto-dwelling wannabe terrorists has grown a bit ho-hum, and DHS has shown itself incapable of protecting us from real bomb threats (Boston marathon).  
I can't think of a better way to pad DHS's portfolio of epic wins than this catchy headline:
DHS Brings Shadownet Cash Coining Criminals to Justice
I'm betting this is a just a marketing test.  Unless people respond with "WTF," more news at 7.

[benjamindees]

Bullshit.

It is impossible to transmit every single order by Mutum Sigillum to Mtgox in Japan on behalf of their clients, because wire costs would kill the buisness. The two companies were merly reducing funds imbalance from time to time - it cannot be called transmitting money on behalf of their clients.

But this isn't really a defense.  That's what all money transmitters do.  It's the reason that money transmitters are regulated.

[abbyd]

The application made by M. Karpeles for the bank account which stated they were not in the money transmitting business is also going to hurt. Perhaps he can argue that the account was originally intended for a different use. It will sort of depend on when it was linked to Dwolla.

Overall, this seems like more trouble for Mt. Gox arising from their unprofessional practices.

Slow down - FinCEN "guidelines" were only published a month ago, which lumped bitcoin exchanges in with other MSBs. Karpeles filled out the form in 2011. The law that DHS is invoking may not even APPLY to bitcoin - they'll have to prove that BTC is money!  Maybe the Feds chose DHS to do this because they a) have nothing to do in those air-conditioned offices, and b) are some of the slowest-moving bureaucrats on the face of the earth...

The proposed DHS budget for 2014 is 35.5 billion dollars, and the department is eager to show some bang for the buck.  Protecting us from fake bombs that DHS itself provides to the ghetto-dwelling wannabe terrorists has grown a bit ho-hum, and DHS has shown itself incapable of protecting us from real bomb threats (Boston marathon).  
I can't think of a better way to pad DHS's portfolio of epic wins than this catchy headline:
DHS Brings Shadownet Cash Coining Criminals to Justice
I'm betting this is a just a marketing test.  Unless people respond with "WTF," more news at 7.

That's it!  Betsofbitcoin:

"In 2013, bitcoin will be directly linked to 'financing terrorism' in the US mainstream media."

And I wonder who will be behind it...  it's all about job security:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2013/05/01/f-q-a-trevor-aaronson.html

[repentance]

Slow down - FinCEN "guidelines" were only published a month ago, which lumped bitcoin exchanges in with other MSBs. Karpeles filled out the form in 2011. The law that DHS is invoking may not even APPLY to bitcoin - they'll have to prove that BTC is money!  Maybe the Feds chose DHS to do this because they a) have nothing to do in those air-conditioned offices, and b) are some of the slowest-moving bureaucrats on the face of the earth...

The MSB violations have nothing to do with them dealing in Bitcoin or with BTC being money.  It's what they're doing with USD which requires them to be registered as a MSB.  The FinCEN guidance would appear to bring services transmitting BTC only under regulatory capture, but that's not the regulation which is being used in this instance.  No "new" regulation is being used to justify the MSB offence.

[The-Real-Link]

Thank you for posting that warrant summary.  Not sure how easily that was found but it does outlay all the questions I had for Dwolla earlier. 

Basically to sum up, it appears Karpeles* lied on opening the account as being used for transferring money and being a money type of business.  The field agent tried testing it enough via Dwolla in a few months to connect the dots, then have a judge's order to seize the account.

Called Dwolla and they couldn't tell me more than that they'd learned about coins a lot this week (probably because half of Gox's account holders are calling them).  Just seems like it's fine to go pick a different exchange and be good to go.

I wouldn't be surprised if this, coupled with the Coinlab suit, severely impairs or closes Gox.

[repentance]

Called Dwolla and they couldn't tell me more than that they'd learned about coins a lot this week (probably because half of Gox's account holders are calling them).  Just seems like it's fine to go pick a different exchange and be good to go.

Dwolla brought in special conditions for Bitcoin related businesses last year.  One reason why MtGox limited the amount of transfers going through Dwolla at any one time was fear that Dwolla itself would suddenly freeze their account.

Dwolla will likely review their policy regarding servicing Bitcoin related businesses again now.

We don't know how the seizure of the Wells Fargo account is going to affect MtGox operations.  It may have held a small amount of user funds or it could have held a large amount of user funds.

[The-Real-Link]

Called Dwolla and they couldn't tell me more than that they'd learned about coins a lot this week (probably because half of Gox's account holders are calling them).  Just seems like it's fine to go pick a different exchange and be good to go.

Dwolla brought in special conditions for Bitcoin related businesses last year.  One reason why MtGox limited the amount of transfers going through Dwolla at any one time was fear that Dwolla itself would suddenly freeze their account.

Dwolla will likely review their policy regarding servicing Bitcoin related businesses again now.

We don't know how the seizure of the Wells Fargo account is going to affect MtGox operations.  It may have held a small amount of user funds or it could have held a large amount of user funds.

Typed up a paragraph with money questions but it didn't sound right ... yeah I hear ya.  I do think Dwolla will reevaluate how they handle exchanges or any BTC business though, as you said.

[threeip]

Agreed that the recent clarification should have prompted Gox to register.  However, I can't find any info about any of the exchanges registering (CampBx, Coinbase, Tradehill, Coinlab, Coinsetter).  Has anyone found any evidence that any of the exchanges has registered?

Coinbase is registered (22nd April 13)
Coinlab is registered (10th April 13)
Couldn't find records for the others.

MSB Registration Number: 31000024917794
Registration Type: Initial Registration, Corrected Report
Legal Name: CoinLab, Inc
States of MSB Activities:
Washington

MSB Registration Number: 31000025767705
Registration Type: Initial Registration
Legal Name: Coinbase, Inc.
States of MSB Activities:
Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District Of Columbia,
Federated States Of Micronesia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Marshall Islands, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Palau, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee,
Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, US, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming

[abbyd]

Slow down - FinCEN "guidelines" were only published a month ago, which lumped bitcoin exchanges in with other MSBs. Karpeles filled out the form in 2011. The law that DHS is invoking may not even APPLY to bitcoin - they'll have to prove that BTC is money!  Maybe the Feds chose DHS to do this because they a) have nothing to do in those air-conditioned offices, and b) are some of the slowest-moving bureaucrats on the face of the earth...

The MSB violations have nothing to do with them dealing in Bitcoin or with BTC being money.  It's what they're doing with USD which requires them to be registered as a MSB.  The FinCEN guidance would appear to bring services transmitting BTC only under regulatory capture, but that's not the regulation which is being used in this instance.  No "new" regulation is being used to justify the MSB offence.

IANAL, but I think no - http://www.fincen.gov/financial_institutions/msb/definitions/msb.html
Before this regulatory change, (according to some bean-counters) bitcoin exchanges were "selling stuff", not "transferring money", now they are "exchanging currency".

Several of the wimpier exchanges folded right when the change happened.
http://www.americanbanker.com/bankthink/fincen-regulations-choking-bitcoin-entrepreneurs-1058606-1.html?zkPrintable=1&nopagination=1