The death of Mt Gox will End Bitcoin

[myrkul]

MtGox has violated none.

We do not know that.  

Guilty until proven innocent, huh?

[mgio]

ahh well then, guess its time for him to make a new llc in us and get banking stuff sorted this time....
still no biggy...

Except it is a HUGE deal to become a money transmitter.

You need to apply for separate licenses for ALL states that you do business in (all 50 states).

You need to hold insurance for all the money you transmit.

You need to comply with KYC regulations for every person you deal with.

And it costs about $25 million.

It is very difficult to become a money transmitter. MtGox might not be able to afford it.

[Viceroy]

MtGox might not be able to afford it.

Then they should not allow Americans to trade on the site, unfortunately ignorance of the law is no excuse.

[smoothie]

ahh well then, guess its time for him to make a new llc in us and get banking stuff sorted this time....
still no biggy...

Except it is a HUGE deal to become a money transmitter.

You need to apply for separate licenses for ALL states that you do business in (all 50 states).

You need to hold insurance for all the money you transmit.

You need to comply with KYC regulations for every person you deal with.

And it costs about $25 million.

It is very difficult to become a money transmitter. MtGox might not be able to afford it.

Here it talks about how MTGOX are looking to spend about $25million to get compliant with the US laws: http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/1/4154500/mt-gox-barons-of-bitcoin

[Viceroy]

The article is misleading as it implies it IS POSSIBLE to become completely compliant with US law regarding bitcoin to fiat and fiat to bitcoin which is an impossibility since there are no state laws that govern such.  It certainly does look like they are/were trying to become compliant and that will CERTAINLY bode well for them.  Perhaps, with good counsel, they get off with a slap on the wrist.

Remember that it's easy to end up facing years in prison like this guy: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/e-gold/

[BitPirate]

The article is misleading as it implies it IS POSSIBLE to become completely compliant with US law regarding bitcoin to fiat and fiat to bitcoin which is an impossibility since there are no state laws that govern such.  It certainly does look like they are/were trying to become compliant and that will CERTAINLY bode well for them.  Perhaps, with good counsel, they get off with a slap on the wrist.

Remember that it's easy to end up facing years in prison like this guy: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/06/e-gold/

This seems to be closer to reality.

But bear in mind he doesn't NEED counsel right now, as he hasn't been indicted or charged with anything.

[Nemesis]

Holyshit the amount of dumb comments on here give me headache.


Btw, its Coinlab NOT Coinbase thats suing MtGox.

I feel like giving someone a quarter to buy a fcking clue 

[chufchuf]

MtGox might not be able to afford it.

Then they should not allow Americans to trade on the site, unfortunately ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Such ''ignorance'' needed ''clarifying'' just two months ago from the FINCEN. Up until then, everyone, and not just Karpeles, had interpreted that U.S. BTC exchanges didn't need to be MSB. And to be coherent, when the govt interpreted BTC to be currency, they'd have to stop taxing profits on BTC because they couldn't consider it a commodity.

[gogxmagog]

just a load of FUD

[Hawker]

Evidence is strong that the Department of Homeland Security SEIZED ASSETS through Dwolla.  I TOTALLY disagree with your assessment.  My initial assessment is that the founder of Mt Gox goes to jail for about a decade.  Didn't the Napster guy go to jail for a while?  I forget that was like twenty years ago.  These kids don't even know what Napster is Grandpa  

Founder of Napster made a few hundred million as a VC on projects like Facebook.  No jail time for him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Parker

[pwi]

I never cared for gox anyhow.  The theft of gox's fiat only solidifies Bitcoin's value IMO. The US/other exchange price vs Gox spread only gives Bitcoin validity as a means of trade via p2p trade.

I said it yesterday; but anyone with the ability and guts stands to make a lot of money playing the imaginary gap between gox price and other exchange's price. Homeland security just made a lot of non-Americans a shit-ton of money. I envy those in a less tyrannical economical environment.

Selling on gox and buying on any other exchange is money in the bank if you have a bank not under the DHS/US microscope. Personally, I'm a fan of the recent shenanigans. I am not a fan of government intervention in realm of consenting adults' trade.

[Nemesis]

Evidence is strong that the Department of Homeland Security SEIZED ASSETS through Dwolla.  I TOTALLY disagree with your assessment.  My initial assessment is that the founder of Mt Gox goes to jail for about a decade.  Didn't the Napster guy go to jail for a while?  I forget that was like twenty years ago.  These kids don't even know what Napster is Grandpa 

Founder of Napster made a few hundred billion as a VC on projects like Facebook.  No jail time for him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Parker

few hundred billion?

REALLY? REALLY REALLY?

Sometimes i like to kick ppl in their nuts for being such a retard.

[superkawaii]

i dont understand what going on here :S

i had my btc on mt.gox wallet ever since i purchased them should i take them out of the gox wallet ?

wtf is going on here :S

[BitPirate]

i dont understand what going on here :S

i had my btc on mt.gox wallet ever since i purchased them should i take them out of the gox wallet ?

wtf is going on here :S

The news does not affect BTC -- but either way, keeping your BTC in an exchange wallet was never the best of ideas.

[Hawker]

Evidence is strong that the Department of Homeland Security SEIZED ASSETS through Dwolla.  I TOTALLY disagree with your assessment.  My initial assessment is that the founder of Mt Gox goes to jail for about a decade.  Didn't the Napster guy go to jail for a while?  I forget that was like twenty years ago.  These kids don't even know what Napster is Grandpa 

Founder of Napster made a few hundred billion as a VC on projects like Facebook.  No jail time for him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_Parker

few hundred billion?

REALLY? REALLY REALLY?

Sometimes i like to kick ppl in their nuts for being such a retard.

Hmmm - I envy you.  It must be great to have so few problems in life that a typing error is all you can find to get upset about. 

[Coinseeker]

If Bitcoin can survive the swings that will come with these attacks on MtGox, Bitcoin will be better off without them.  Or at least removing the 80% dominance that Gox has.  That is bad for Bitcoin, which is no secret.  There are plenty of other options.  Do Bitcoin a favor and use them.

[WackyWilly]

If Bitcoin can survive the swings that will come with these attacks on MtGox, Bitcoin will be better off without them.  Or at least removing the 80% dominance that Gox has.  That is bad for Bitcoin, which is no secret.  There are plenty of other options.  Do Bitcoin a favor and use them.

I second that. If BTC is EVER going to be a currency (instead of a commodity that it is right now) we are in desperate need of TRUE spreading amoung a vast amount of exchanges. I'd like to see  more than 50 exchanges (at least) in order to be able to talk about an independent price formation.

YET...

For the time being, a Mt.Gox assault by either / and US/Japanese authorities WILL pose a major setback to BTC. As long as it lasts, I know, but IT WILL. There is NO way ordinary people are going to adopt BTC when exchanges are either unreliable, filing fraudulent bank enrollment forms, closing after some months, etc. etc.

Bitcoin deserves better than what we've seen over the past weeks. But let's be honest: it will fail in an epic way if the problems don't get addressed. And let's be honest once more: that is a problem when having such a decentralized currency... All we can hope for is enterpreneurs willing to setup competing exchanges, and to conduct their business in a moral & lawful way. I just can HOPE for the better. Meanwhile, I would not be surprised to pick up BTC at a WAY lower price before the dust settles... And meanwhile, I am partially positioning myself into Ripple as well (now don't laugh - it IS legitimate, and it is a BUSINESS, contrary to the fukcing-up by Mt.Gox)

[HeliKopterBen]

So they got a couple of the questions wrong on one of the thousand documents they had to fill out for compliance with the US government.  Big deal.  Anybody else would have to just resubmit the forms at worst and nothing would come of it.  Anyway, maybe ripple or some other decentralized, peer-to-peer based exchange can solve this problem.

[Viceroy]

I am curious what LAW did Mark break?
Link? Site? Cite?

"Homeland Security says it had probable cause to believe that Mt. Gox is guilty of money transmitting without a license. Companies like PayPal and Western Union have this license, but Mt. Gox does not.  Punishment for money transmitting without a license is a fine or a maximum of five years in jail."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mt-gox-bitcoin-exchange-shut-down-2013-5#ixzz2TSrLPKGZ


The article you pointed us to, Smoothie, said that MtGox spent $25 million to be compliant, but the article is dated April 1, 2013.  If Business insider is correct then Mt Gox has NOT YET completed their filing process and so, while shady, that means DHS might be right.  In fact it appears that the reason FINCEN sent out the clarification last month was in response to DHS's request.  FINCEN released their guidance at THE REQUEST OF LAW ENFORCEMENT.

I've come back to "Mark is going to jail for 5 years..."

[BitcoinAshley]

MtGox dying a slow, painful death at the hands of U.S. and Japanese regulators would be the best possible thing that could happen to Bitcoin at this point in time.