Jed McCaleb's Exit from Ripple Labs: The Plot Thickens

[BittBurger]

It just doesn't make sense.

Regulators are *salivating* for a regulated cryptocurrency right now.   Ripple has been sitting there the whole time, touting itself as the "backbone to the existing banking system".   Yet I have google news feeds set up for Bitcoin, Ripple, Ethereum, etc and there hasn't been a single article in the last 5 months on Ripple. 

I guess its good for Bitcoin.

-B-

[1714832638]

1714832638

[1714832638]

1714832638

[1714832638]

1714832638

[cypherdoc]

don't forget Jed's laptop was the one that got hacked revealing the admin pwd leading to the mtgox plunge to $0.001 over a period of about 15 min back in June 2011.

i tried to scrape up the video of that plunge but no success.  i remember being right there when it happened.  one of the most dramatic things i've ever seen realtime.

please post if you can find it by chance. thanks.

there it is

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1X6qQt9ONg

thanks much for that.

helps put things back in perspective.

[Melbustus]

don't forget Jed's laptop was the one that got hacked revealing the admin pwd leading to the mtgox plunge to $0.001 over a period of about 15 min back in June 2011.

i tried to scrape up the video of that plunge but no success.  i remember being right there when it happened.  one of the most dramatic things i've ever seen realtime.

I watched that live too. I had only started really diving into bitcoin a few weeks prior; didn't own any yet. I recall when the price quickly rebounded to ~$17 and held after that, I was sufficiently impressed with bitcoin's resiliency to buy a little.

[Sukrim]

I'm still trying to figure out how people determine how many Ripples there are in existence.

Either checking ripplecharts, a public server via API or setting up their own server and checking there.

To the topic: That exit happened about half a year ago, not last week or something.

[misterbigg]

Ripple Labs has just unveiled the brand new version of its charting application "Ripple Charts" which you can see here:

http://www.ripplecharts.com/#/

They've got a really amazing team of people working on the public facing components of the payment network. Personally, I have learned a great deal and I have nothing but positive experiences with everyone in the company. They are a great group of folks and a lot of fun to work with!

[hypostatization]

Chris Larsen had nothing but great things to say about Jed in his 1/29 Money & Tech interview.

[tokeweed]

Chris Larsen had nothing but great things to say about Jed in his 1/29 Money & Tech interview.

yeah. i wonder what things jed have in mind about whoever he had a 'disagreement' with. it sounded like it got personal.

[tokeweed]

Ripple Labs has just unveiled the brand new version of its charting application "Ripple Charts" which you can see here:

http://www.ripplecharts.com/#/

They've got a really amazing team of people working on the public facing components of the payment network. Personally, I have learned a great deal and I have nothing but positive experiences with everyone in the company. They are a great group of folks and a lot of fun to work with!

dev side, for sure they got a good, talented, hardworking bunch. on the business side, that remains to be seen. but right now, it don't look good.

[hypostatization]

Chris Larsen had nothing but great things to say about Jed in his 1/29 Money & Tech interview.

yeah. i wonder what things jed have in mind about whoever he had a 'disagreement' with. it sounded like it got personal.

Chris Larsen stole his Black Lotus card.

[TheFootMan]

don't forget Jed's laptop was the one that got hacked revealing the admin pwd leading to the mtgox plunge to $0.001 over a period of about 15 min back in June 2011.

i tried to scrape up the video of that plunge but no success.  i remember being right there when it happened.  one of the most dramatic things i've ever seen realtime.

I remember this situation. It is a bit like the situation today, only that the MtGox website was totally unavailable for a long time afterwards while they worked on the 'reverification-system' and the deadlines were continually pushed, and a lot of people were very upset about the whole ordeal.

Also, do we have conclusive evidence that the breach happened through Jed's laptop, or do we again have to trust MTGox's words.

This might just be rumors, but I've heard that there were numerous flaws in the MtGox website, leading up to the 'hack', and all notices to MtGox about this was blatantly ignored.

[tokeweed]

Chris Larsen had nothing but great things to say about Jed in his 1/29 Money & Tech interview.

yeah. i wonder what things jed have in mind about whoever he had a 'disagreement' with. it sounded like it got personal.

Chris Larsen stole his Black Lotus card.

hahaha!  you know jed might actually feel this way.

[cypherdoc]

don't forget Jed's laptop was the one that got hacked revealing the admin pwd leading to the mtgox plunge to $0.001 over a period of about 15 min back in June 2011.

i tried to scrape up the video of that plunge but no success.  i remember being right there when it happened.  one of the most dramatic things i've ever seen realtime.

I remember this situation. It is a bit like the situation today, only that the MtGox website was totally unavailable for a long time afterwards while they worked on the 'reverification-system' and the deadlines were continually pushed, and a lot of people were very upset about the whole ordeal.

Also, do we have conclusive evidence that the breach happened through Jed's laptop, or do we again have to trust MTGox's words.

This might just be rumors, but I've heard that there were numerous flaws in the MtGox website, leading up to the 'hack', and all notices to MtGox about this was blatantly ignored.

No, it was Jed.

He publicly came out and apologized. Yep, gox was closed for about two weeks as I remember.

[cypherdoc]

don't forget Jed's laptop was the one that got hacked revealing the admin pwd leading to the mtgox plunge to $0.001 over a period of about 15 min back in June 2011.

i tried to scrape up the video of that plunge but no success.  i remember being right there when it happened.  one of the most dramatic things i've ever seen realtime.

I watched that live too. I had only started really diving into bitcoin a few weeks prior; didn't own any yet. I recall when the price quickly rebounded to ~$17 and held after that, I was sufficiently impressed with bitcoin's resiliency to buy a little.

And then promptly ground down to $1.95 by November. Those were Bitcoin's darkest times.

[Melbustus]

don't forget Jed's laptop was the one that got hacked revealing the admin pwd leading to the mtgox plunge to $0.001 over a period of about 15 min back in June 2011.

i tried to scrape up the video of that plunge but no success.  i remember being right there when it happened.  one of the most dramatic things i've ever seen realtime.

I watched that live too. I had only started really diving into bitcoin a few weeks prior; didn't own any yet. I recall when the price quickly rebounded to ~$17 and held after that, I was sufficiently impressed with bitcoin's resiliency to buy a little.

And then promptly ground down to $1.95 by November. Those were Bitcoin's darkest times.

Yes indeed. Down 90%+ on my first purchases. It was really annoying how so many people failed to see the long-term dynamic... (almost like looking at the spec forum right now...heh).

[tokeweed]

if bitcoin does fall into dark times again, his new secret project could save it. it'll be like the second coming.

that would be rad.

[tokeweed]

Jed McCaleb’s Secret Bitcoin Project: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

1. The Project Is Very Hush-Hush

TechCrunch notes that McCaleb's project announcement was very brief. The landing page at secretbitcoinproject.com says very little, except for the statement below.

"When I sold Mt. Gox a few years ago, Bitcoin was trading at less than a dollar. Today Bitcoin exists in a new environment. Mt. Gox is struggling to keep up. Now, I am building something that will be better for Bitcoin and better for you. I’m looking for alpha testers. -Jed"

TechCrunch adds that McCaleb is something of a Bitcoin legend, having "transformed Mt. Gox (short for Magic: The Gathering Online Exchange) from a card-trading platform into what became the world’s one-time leading Bitcoin exchange."

2. McCaleb Created Mt.Gox

Mt. Gox has been in the news quite a lot recently. The Bitcoin exchange infamously suspended withdrawals earlier this month, which sent Bitcoin's value plummeting. Despite founding the Bitcoin exchange, McCaleb is no longer involved with Mt.Gox.

3. McCaleb Also Created Ripple

Last year, Wired wrote an article about McCaleb about his new project, Ripple. Wired explains Ripple thusly:

"Like Bitcoin, Ripple comes with its own digital currency — called the XRP — and its own peer-to-peer money-moving network. But there’s a twist: Ripple makes it easy to move any type of money — you can trade dollars for Yen or Euros or even Bitcoins — and instead of exchanges, Ripple uses a set of independent operators, called gateways, who handle the business of taking and delivering the fiat cash. The company’s ambitious plan is to build a network of open-source servers that can move money around the world at a tiny fraction of the cost of a bank or a company such as Western Union."

4. McCaleb Was an Early P2P Icon

McCaleb has a long history of working on technology projects that skirt the edge of the law. He created the file-sharing program eDonkey 2000, which was shut down in 2005.

5. The Secret Project Has Unusual Funding

In their reporting on McCaleb's secret Bitcoin project, TechCrunch noted that the project has already scored some funding from supporters. The funds came through thanks to "instant messages and Skype."

http://www.heavy.com/tech/2014/02/jed-mccaleb-secret-bitcoin-project-ripple-mtgox/

"The funds came through thanks to "instant messages and Skype."

i guess this is part of what he's working on?

[tokeweed]

could his involvement with mt.gox be one of the reasons why he wasn't chosen as ceo?  did the people at ripple labs already know something shady was going on behind the scenes at gox?

The amended US suit also added Mark Karpeles’ second-in-command Gonzague ***-Bouchery and Mt. Gox’s original founder and shareholder Jed McCaleb as defendants.

http://www.coindesk.com/japanese-megabank-mizuho-now-official-defendant-gox-saga/

[BitCoinDream]

Jed is a mysterious character...

[erono]

Who knows what Jed McCaleb is doing next?

[drrussellshane]

Who knows what Jed McCaleb is doing next?

Presumably, Jed.