15 dollar arbitrage between bitstamp and gox right now???

[BTC4Victory]

Hmm maybe as an insider, he can fly to Japan and create an bank account there rather than lose 20%

I keep seeing people make comments along these lines in discussions of the inter-exchange spread (and the USD-withdrawal problems that are clearly driving it).  Does anyone actually have any first-hand knowledge about whether someone physically present (resident?) in Tokyo is able to withdraw their fiat in JPY instantaneously (or on a same-day basis), either via transfer to a Japanese bank account or by walking into their office in Shibuya and asking them to cut you a check on the spot?

Obviously my question goes, in part, to whether the issue really is "merely" a quasi-bank-blockade (or even just non-sinister MTGOX incompetence), vs. a more serious liquidity/solvency problem.  But, hell, if this spread keeps up -- and if they really would happily cut you a JPY check on the spot -- then it's starting to look awfully tempting to book a First Class flight for a long-weekend trip to Tokyo, have some great sushi and sake and enjoy the sights and sounds of Roppongi, all more-than-fully paid for courtesy of Homeland-Security-generated market imperfections...

[silversurfer]

I tend to think it is a more serious problem that only certain insiders are fully informed about.  Not to sling mud, but I would cease all dealings with Mt. Gox until the issue is made public.  Personally, I stopped dealing with them around the time of the CoinLab partnership announcement.  Whatever happened to that anyway...?

Finally, mtgox prices are higher for all currencies.  Just checked bitcoincharts.  Not a USD specific issue - it's a mtgox issue.  Not convinced the $2.9mm US Gov seizure is the end of the story, or itself enough to explain this spread.

[Odalv]

Hmm maybe as an insider, he can fly to Japan and create an bank account there rather than lose 20%

I keep seeing people make comments along these lines in discussions of the inter-exchange spread (and the USD-withdrawal problems that are clearly driving it).  Does anyone actually have any first-hand knowledge about whether someone physically present (resident?) in Tokyo is able to withdraw their fiat in JPY instantaneously (or on a same-day basis), either via transfer to a Japanese bank account or by walking into their office in Shibuya and asking them to cut you a check on the spot?

Obviously my question goes, in part, to whether the issue really is "merely" a quasi-bank-blockade (or even just non-sinister MTGOX incompetence), vs. a more serious liquidity/solvency problem.  But, hell, if this spread keeps up -- and if they really would happily cut you a JPY check on the spot -- then it's starting to look awfully tempting to book a First Class flight for a long-weekend trip to Tokyo, have some great sushi and sake and enjoy the sights and sounds of Roppongi, all more-than-fully paid for courtesy of Homeland-Security-generated market imperfections...

It is possible that gox is insolvent and $65M are blocked by Coinlab lawsuit. ... insiders knows :-)

[jordan.dev]

This is MTGOX's financial innovation: The withdraw time is so long that people are all forced to do long term investment in bitcoin, and the price will rise long term wise, this protect the exchange rate 

If it takes several months to withdraw your dollars from NASDAQ, you would just buy some stock and hold them for years before you withdraw

+1

what a fucking clown car

...in other news...I'm setting up a BTC address where you can donate to me flying to Japan to punch Mark Karpeles in the face ... I think BTC people would pay-per-view that shit...

Who's in?

[Odalv]

if gox uses our money as loan then let him pay us  interest.

EDIT: 
USD average loan rates in % per 365 days is 36.7552% at Bitfinex

https://bitfinex.com/pages/stats

[Tirapon]

if gox uses our money as loan then let him pay us  interest.

EDIT: 
USD average loan rates in % per 365 days is 36.7552% at Bitfinex

https://bitfinex.com/pages/stats

Good luck getting interest if they don't even have the money to pay you back.

[shark32]

I really don't get how something like a "money block" or insolvency should drive the price up, except there's a big demand from people, that have themselves dedicated to gox
by all means

All the insiders would transfer their btc to another wallet and request a fiat payout. As consequence we'd get a shortage in supply, but there should also be less demand on gox, because:
              - the price on other exchanges is cheaper
              - the discussion and opinions about that are free accessible to everybody
              - most people aren't that stupid. true story.

What do i not see? 

[Peter Lambert]

I really don't get how something like a "money block" or insolvency should drive the price up, except there's a big demand from people, that have themselves dedicated to gox
by all means

All the insiders would transfer their btc to another wallet and request a fiat payout. As consequence we'd get a shortage in supply, but there should also be less demand on gox, because:
              - the price on other exchanges is cheaper
              - the discussion and opinions about that are free accessible to everybody
              - most people aren't that stupid. true story.

What do i not see? 

The money block or insolvency has the effect of making fiat withdrawals impossible. So there are tens of millions of dollars sitting on mtGox that cannot be withdrawn. But those people still want their money back, so the only way to get it is to buy bitcoins. Nobody is going to move coins to gox since they cannot get the money out, so we have a shortage of supply and a demand that is artificially inflated.

[FreedomCoin]

I really don't get how something like a "money block" or insolvency should drive the price up, except there's a big demand from people, that have themselves dedicated to gox
by all means

All the insiders would transfer their btc to another wallet and request a fiat payout. As consequence we'd get a shortage in supply, but there should also be less demand on gox, because:
              - the price on other exchanges is cheaper
              - the discussion and opinions about that are free accessible to everybody
              - most people aren't that stupid. true story.

What do i not see? 

offtopic but now did you post here with only one post count?

[shark32]

first thanks @Peter 

and @ Freedom: I have about 8 hours of online time spent on this board... so no worries, I read a few things   

[FreedomCoin]

first thanks @Peter 

and @ Freedom: I have about 8 hours of online time spent on this board... so no worries, I read a few things   

ah cool, i like your avatar.

[shark32]

first thanks @Peter 

and @ Freedom: I have about 8 hours of online time spent on this board... so no worries, I read a few things   

ah cool, i like your avatar.

Thank you

Bitcoin.de is slowly closing the gap to gox, whats the matter with bitstamp?

[grovestr]

first thanks @Peter 

and @ Freedom: I have about 8 hours of online time spent on this board... so no worries, I read a few things   

ah cool, i like your avatar.

Thank you

Bitcoin.de is slowly closing the gap to gox, whats the matter with bitstamp?

You should read this thread again coz u missed something. Or you just trolling?

[HeliKopterBen]

Btc-e and bitstamp difference almost $5.  Why is this gap not closing?

[Peter Lambert]

Btc-e and bitstamp difference almost $5.  Why is this gap not closing?

Why are you pointing it out? Jump on that arbitrage before somebody else does!

How much money would it take to consolidate their prices? If you did it right now, how much money would you make? You can say the difference is $5, but is that $5 with a $0.01 volume between them or a $100000000 volume?

Edit: Answering my own questions, with a quick glance at bitcoincharts, it looks like the price is already closer, down to a $3 difference with a volume of 300 btc or so, so you could make a couple hundred dollars if you already have several hundred bitcoins at Bitstamp and several tens of thousands of dollars at Btc-e. If you have that much money sitting on the exchange, that couple hundred dollars is starting to look insignificant.

[genuise]

there is a page which helps to compare arbitrage depending on several target BTC volumes. http://bitcoin-analytics.com/#arbitrage