Mt Gox's new office

[dbbit]

I'm generally the last person to spot things, so this may be very old news, but I just noticed that Mt Gox is saying that they:
"had to relocate MtGox to our previous office building in Shibuya (details can be found here https://support.mtgox.com/home)"

That office address is:
MtGox Co.,Ltd.
Cerulean Tower 15F
26­1 Sakuragaoka­cho
150­8512 Shibuya Tokyo
Japan


However, Cerulean Tower floor 15 is not a general office. It belongs to a company called "The Executive Centre", which is a business that offers virtual offices.

From:
http://www.executivecentre.com/virtual_offices/faq

A virtual office provides your business with the corporate image and business infrastructure of a multinational company without the cost. Your business will get a prestigious business address and a designated local phone number with a receptionist answering your calls in your company name. Professionally trained secretarial staff will manage your correspondence, and can provide additional administrative and support services as you need them.


If you go to the Executive Centre link above, and click on the Virtual Offices link above, then click on Locations, you will see under Tokyo they have the Shibuya Cerulean Tower, which when clicked on, reveals that they have floor 15 - the new Mt Gox address.

http://www.executivecentre.com/location/shibuya_cerulean_tower

Level 15, Cerulean Tower, 26-1 Sakuragaoka-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan 150-8512



So I'm just curious how Mt Gox plans to "relocate" into what is essentially a phoneline.

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[CompNsci]

Perhaps they are all going to be working from home, either to reduce exposure to physical threats, or to reduce expenses? It doesn't really seem like their business would require a lot of physical office space.

I suppose there is also the possibility that they are getting ready to liquidate, though you would think they would just go ahead and do that, rather mess around with the virtual office.

My guess, based on Karpeles previous actions, would be that they are nervous with all the negative attention (an employee on the #mtgox IRC reported that some of the employees "felt threatened" with the protests) and will simply work from home or from another location.

If they are just trying to use this to cover another physical location, that would seem quite silly, as I imagine any good private investigator can figure out where they are actually located.

[Raya]

They have taken the money from mt gox to fund a office where they have some football fields and a personal space launch area.

[grifferz]

My belief is that it's a combination of:

• The management and other tenants of their multi-tenant office building got upset at people protesting outside
• Karpeles got freaked out by being confronted
• Karpeles intends to deliver further bad news and sees things escalating in the real world

The new address is a mailbox address behind a security gate. No one can get in. Even if someone got in, no MtGox staff would be there. No other company there expects visitors in person so no one cares how big of a neckbeard army accumulates outside.

It is bad news.

[hilariousandco]

I'm generally the last person to spot things, so this may be very old news, but I just noticed that Mt Gox is saying that they:
"had to relocate MtGox to our previous office building in Shibuya (details can be found here https://support.mtgox.com/home)"

So I'm just curious how Mt Gox plans to "relocate" into what is essentially a phoneline.

Haha, busted. Maybe they're just trying to divert the attention.

[Nagle]

The Cerulean Tower 15th floor location is short term rental small office space. You can rent space for 1 to 8 people there. It's not just a mail drop. That may be where Karpeles is hiding out. We should know shortly; reporters will be looking there.

[hilariousandco]

The Cerulean Tower 15th floor location is short term rental small office space. You can rent space for 1 to 8 people there. It's not just a mail drop. That may be where Karpeles is hiding out. We should know shortly; reporters will be looking there.

Are reporters on the case now?

[hgamezoom]

Perhaps they are all going to be working from home, either to reduce exposure to physical threats, or to reduce expenses? It doesn't really seem like their business would require a lot of physical office space.

I suppose there is also the possibility that they are getting ready to liquidate, though you would think they would just go ahead and do that, rather mess around with the virtual office.

My guess, based on Karpeles previous actions, would be that they are nervous with all the negative attention (an employee on the #mtgox IRC reported that some of the employees "felt threatened" with the protests) and will simply work from home or from another location.

If they are just trying to use this to cover another physical location, that would seem quite silly, as I imagine any good private investigator can figure out where they are actually located.

Anyone who chat with MtGox employee, has any more information? Like what their company is now doing, are their salary payed as usual?

[coinage]

My belief is that it's a combination of:

• The management and other tenants of their multi-tenant office building got upset at people protesting outside
• Karpeles got freaked out by being confronted
• Karpeles intends to deliver further bad news and sees things escalating in the real world

The new address is a mailbox address behind a security gate. No one can get in. Even if someone got in, no MtGox staff would be there. No other company there expects visitors in person so no one cares how big of a neckbeard army accumulates outside.

It is bad news.

An excellent post.

Your last sentence may need reversal. Running a large bitcoin exchange out of a well known location without much security was an enormous, unacceptable risk. What they are now doing to physically isolate themselves more from the general public can be seen as long overdue.

If they were smart/savvy they would couple this with a large increase in online contact with their client base, to compensate where it matters most. Instead, they actually announced the "relocation" before trying to announce & explain the latest withdrawal delays. Yet another bungled PR event.

Well, they're consistent. Gox is an "exciting" stimulus for the market and in that one regard they outshine most, perturbing the market to bring on spectacular highs & lows.

What I wonder is: where are their servers? Who monitors those? Do they even encrypt everything on all their hardware when they carry it from location to location, and when they sleep?

I hope so, but if not, an even more "spectacular" future may await...

[grifferz]

The new address is a mailbox address behind a security gate. No one can get in. Even if someone got in, no MtGox staff would be there. No other company there expects visitors in person so no one cares how big of a neckbeard army accumulates outside.

It is bad news.

An excellent post.

Your last sentence may need reversal. Running a large bitcoin exchange out of a well known location without much security was an enormous, unacceptable risk. What they are now doing to physically isolate themselves more from the general public can be seen as long overdue.

I don't think it can be good news at all, because the way Karpeles seeks to isolate himself and staff from any possible confrontation implies that he knows things are going to get much worse. If they were going to get better then they wouldn't need to do this. It seems like a pretty insane time to be spending time on an office move instead of on fixing the issue - unless a fix is hopeless.

I'm sure the servers will be in a datacentre that's not even on the same continent as Karpeles - I haven't looked. Due to the constant technical and (software) security issues that MtGox has had then no doubt their security isn't the best, but at this point I suspect that is the least of their worries.

[coinage]

I don't think it can be good news at all, because the way Karpeles seeks to isolate himself and staff from any possible confrontation implies that he knows things are going to get much worse.

The lack of the usual reassurance that "Bitcoins have not been lost and clients' funds are safe" (even after Bitstamp made such a statement) implies some large losses and suggests they are focused on protecting themselves from provable allegations of fraud.

Still, for the longest time, Gox has specialized in impressively minimal customer communication.

If they were going to get better then they wouldn't need to do this. It seems like a pretty insane time to be spending time on an office move instead of on fixing the issue - unless a fix is hopeless.

Unless perhaps people at the company are being threatened by angry customers?

I'm sure the servers will be in a datacentre that's not even on the same continent as Karpeles - I haven't looked. Due to the constant technical and (software) security issues that MtGox has had then no doubt their security isn't the best, but at this point I suspect that is the least of their worries.

Most likely. (I was also concerned with random notebook computers that may now be on the move.)

Offsite servers are at risk of inspection/manipulation by the hosting company's employees -- people who have been becoming ever more aware of how lucrative bitcoin theft could be for them.

Bring on the decentralized exchanges!

[nitehawk]

I think it's much more simpler than that

He got one to many death threats and now fears showing up at the office.

[ChrisJ]

Is there any evidence Mt Gox have any employees other than Mark?

The guys in the IRC chatroom #MtGox seemed to confess earlier they are just customers who get given some perks for modding.

[balanghai]

Bring on the decentralized exchanges!

More Localbitcoins buyers and sellers? Anyone?

[FrauHolle]

Alright, I just wanted to check for myself (without losing more money by flying to Japan).

MtGox is reportedly domiciled at this office space:
http[Suspicious link removed]cutivecentre.com/location/shibuya_cerulean_tower
So I gave them a call +81 (3) 5456 5513 at the general reception. The nice lady was unfortunately unable to connect me to anyone at gox (not surprised), told me that she couldnt give me a number for privacy reasons, told me I should contact them by email at info@mtgox.com but she confirmed that they are renting office space at that location.

I found it at least somewhat interesting that they would take the troubles to rent a new space instead of getting on the first flight out of the country with their cold wallet as carry-on luggage.

Cheers,
Holle

[dave111223]

What I wonder is: where are their servers? Who monitors those? Do they even encrypt everything on all their hardware when they carry it from location to location, and when they sleep?

I hope so, but if not, an even more "spectacular" future may await...

A Godaddy VPS?

[grifferz]

Yes they seem to have a fully functional tarding engine.

[Mrrr]

Starbucks Store Locator shows 26 store's in Shibuya. I bet one of them houses Mark's new office. And since Starbucks has free Wifi he might finally be able to access the Gox wallets he keeps stored on Dropbox. So lets hope Mark doesn't spill his Latte Frappucino over his keyboard again and withdrawals will resume soon.

[coinage]

Earlier comments notwithstanding, changing old software can be extremely challenging and time consuming -- and judging from the very minimal history of improvements at gox, they're not particularly adept at redesign (typical for a company which once enjoyed an unassailable position as market leader).

I can only imagine what it feels like for them right now. Endless complaints and accusations from masses of desperate customers unfamiliar with bitcoin's market cycles. Daily inquiries from media. A large backlog of mangled blockchain transactions and the resulting accounting mess. Worries over "investigations" & lawsuits. Fear of making things any worse.

Anyone surrounded by all that noise could well need isolation or a mini-vacation to clear the mind, to become capable of progressing in any useful direction.

We know there was a real technical issue involving distribution of bitcoins. I discount suggestions that they manufactured the crisis. Gox has always been terribly slow to update their platform, which made them vulnerable and makes repairs harder now.

Unless the intense pressure itself forces some sort of collapse, I expect to see their customers begin receiving limited quantities of bitcoins in the weeks ahead. Then the clamoring will begin to open the floodgates and we may get a clearer feel of whether unsurvivable losses of btc occurred.

[quone17]

WHat a cowardly move to run and hide now to a new "virtual" office.  Sure they could have hired a security guard or two but come on.  What they need to try now is honesty (I'm sure they won't) and say approximately how much got stolen.  If they said "2000 btc were stolen" and that's why they will limit withdrawals, and they'll limit them for 2 months, then the panic might wear off a little.  It's just like the stock market - uncertainty is what hurt it.