Mark Karpeles (Mt Gox) is playing the following trick

[crinklecash]

The price on MtGox was historically approx $100 higher than on other exchanges. Why?  Because they had made it difficult to get Fiat out. So what did Mark do?  He bought bitcoins on other exchanges and sold them on his own exchange.  The price of btc is lower now on MtGox. Guess what he is doing now?  Exactly the opposite. He is buying btc on his own exchange and selling them on other exchanges.  

So people stop panicking and make this guy even richer.  Keep your cool and hang on to your bitcoin on MtGox. Especially when they are below the market price as determined by the other exchanges.

The price will go up again and you will regret that you have sold cheap.

[rat]

all the shady bullshit going on with Bitcoin now, is going to prompt governments to act - in a very bad way

[marcoverin]

Hmmm intesting.  That explains this: http://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinMarkets/comments/1wida0/gox_price_manipulation_after_mtgox_is_mtvesuvius/

[justusranvier]

Because they had made it difficult to get Fiat out.

Mt Gox did not make it difficult to get fiat out - the US government and banking system did.

[tvbcof]

Because they had made it difficult to get Fiat out.

Mt Gox did not make it difficult to get fiat out - the US government and banking system did.

Be that as it may, I saw no interest whatsoever on the part of Mt. Gox to remedy the 'problem'.  I offered to lend my assistance since I am represented by a relatively straight-up house member in the house who is no friend of the big banks.  The only response I got was boilerplate garbage which was simply misleading and almost certainly known to Mt. Gox to be a lie.

Mt. Gox was well positioned to make a ton of money by exploiting the pressure differential between themselves and other exchanges.  Either independently, or through favored intermediaries which would be more safe.  I'd say that it is a fair bet that that is exactly what they were doing.  And will do again if they survive.

[Nagle]

Because they had made it difficult to get Fiat out.

Mt Gox did not make it difficult to get fiat out - the US government and banking system did.

Wrong. As I've pointed out before, if the US imposed some restriction on money transfers for Mt. Gox, it would affect transfers from the US into Mt. Gox. That never happened. Somehow, all of Mt. Gox's money transfer restrictions are always on the withdrawal side, never the deposit side.

It's a scam. This was obvious back in June, with the "two week hiatus" on withdrawals.

[tvbcof]

Because they had made it difficult to get Fiat out.

Mt Gox did not make it difficult to get fiat out - the US government and banking system did.

Wrong. As I've pointed out before, if the US imposed some restriction on money transfers for Mt. Gox, it would affect transfers from the US into Mt. Gox. That never happened. Somehow, all of Mt. Gox's money transfer restrictions are always on the withdrawal side, never the deposit side.

It's a scam. This was obvious back in June, with the "two week hiatus" on withdrawals.

Furthermore, some people have claimed that they got USD into the US by using the 5% fee option.  I'd like to know what kind of rules the government might have come up with which allows money to transmit to chumps who agreed to the 5% ass-reaming while blocking payouts to those who did not.

Even Gox mouthpiece Strudle who seems to know a lot about this stuff doesn't seem to have an explanation for that.

[justusranvier]

Haven't you ever dealt with bureaucrats before? Especially in the banking area, they don't always act directly. There are lots of things they can do that get results without laving a paper trail. All it takes is a suggestion that certain behavior might be problematic and banks will start "voluntarily" deciding to exercise their prerogative to refrain from doing business with troublesome customers or entities.

[TTBit]

Haven't you ever dealt with bureaucrats before? Especially in the banking area, they don't always act directly. There are lots of things they can do that get results without laving a paper trail. All it takes is a suggestion that certain behavior might be problematic and banks will start "voluntarily" deciding to exercise their prerogative to refrain from doing business with troublesome customers or entities.

But wouldn't there be some evidence of this? A MtGox employee talking off the record in a chat, etc? Seems more likely employees are being directed to not blame it on any government entity/regulation to buy them as much time as possible.

[justusranvier]

But wouldn't there be some evidence of this? A MtGox employee talking off the record in a chat, etc? Seems more likely employees are being directed to not blame it on any government entity/regulation to buy them as much time as possible.

Search the forums for people talking about their (US) banks refusing to wire money to Mt Gox and/or Bitstamp.

[smoothie]

Because they had made it difficult to get Fiat out.

Mt Gox did not make it difficult to get fiat out - the US government and banking system did.

Wrong. As I've pointed out before, if the US imposed some restriction on money transfers for Mt. Gox, it would affect transfers from the US into Mt. Gox. That never happened. Somehow, all of Mt. Gox's money transfer restrictions are always on the withdrawal side, never the deposit side.

It's a scam. This was obvious back in June, with the "two week hiatus" on withdrawals.

This ^. If they indeed had withdrawal issues with the banking system they would have deposit issues with the banking system as well. They are playing all of their customers. Hence why I refuse to ever trade on their exchange again.

[TTBit]

But wouldn't there be some evidence of this? A MtGox employee talking off the record in a chat, etc? Seems more likely employees are being directed to not blame it on any government entity/regulation to buy them as much time as possible.

Search the forums for people talking about their (US) banks refusing to wire money to Mt Gox and/or Bitstamp.

Exactly - TO an exchange. Have there been any reports of a receiving wire denied? I suppose there very well may be a bottleneck, but it would have been pointed it out as the source. Also, some USD transfers would have made it through. Instead, you have to pay 5% fee and wait. Sounds like MtGox can arb their assets if you pay the 5%

Best case scenario I see: MtGox is terrible at hedging. A customer would deposit Pesos and ultimately withdraw USD. That would mean MtGox is sitting on weak currencies such as PLN, PESOS, BRL.