Gox Gone, Insolvent

[quone17]

They kept up with the BS until the bitter end. Oh we are just moving offices because of unspecified two person protests, not because we are hiding so you don't track us down after we run away.

[1714795549]

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[scutzi128]

Mark better watch his back. I'm sure there are some not so nice people that would love to put a beating on his tubby ass.

[Albertarocks]

bitfreak! said "This entire thing is mind blowing... a lot of people just got royally screwed by Gox and I feel sorry for them."  A lot of people are having a good time laughing at us, but they don't appreciate that several weeks ago Gox started disallowing BTC withdrawals.  In other words, they closed the god damned bank door.  So how in hell were people supposed to take their coins out and excape this mess?  They couldn't.  It's not as if they were dumb just for trading on the most active exchange in the world.   True enough, Gox was currupt as hell... but Gox offered by far the highest liquidity in the world.  And any smart trader knows that the way to make money is to go where the money is traded.  You don't make any money trading horses if you hang out at a stockyard that trades 5 horses a week.  Bottom line... Gox closed the door weeks ago and wouldn't let traders out.  They literally stole the coins.  Criminal charges will surely by laid.  And yes, I feel sorry for the victims too.  Only classless assholes would laugh at them.

[russokai]

bitfreak! said "This entire thing is mind blowing... a lot of people just got royally screwed by Gox and I feel sorry for them."  A lot of people are having a good time laughing at us, but they don't appreciate that several weeks ago Gox started disallowing BTC withdrawals.  In other words, they closed the god damned bank door.  So how in hell were people supposed to take their coins out and excape this mes?  They couldn't.  It's not as if they were dumb just for trading on the most active exchange in the world.   True enough, Gox was currupt as hell... but Gox offered by far the highest liquidity in the world.  And any smart trader knows that the way to make money is to go where the money is traded.  You don't make any money trading horses if you hang out at a stockyard that trades 5 horses a week.  Bottom line... Gox closed the door weeks ago and wouldn't let traders out.  They literally stole the coins.  Criminal charges will surely by laid.  And yes, I feel sorry for the victims too.  Only classless assholes would laugh at them.

Yes hindsight is 20/20 and a lot of dumb people like to try to feel smart but claiming they knew what was going to happen.  Gox has been having problems for about 10 months, but was still churning along, making millions in commissions, and there was no reason to think they were going under.   Only recently after they shut down BTC withdrawls did it looks bad and of course was too late to get out.

[Bobsurplus]

I think this may be worse then I thought. I'm starting to think about how many people use gox, then I'm starting to think about how many of those people also trade in altcoins. It seems fair to me to assume that a fair amount do. Here's the problem: none of those users will feel safe using any exchange and there not going to want to bother installing 20 clients on their laptop to store their collection of coins.

This could actually be a crypto killer.

Just saying.

[jhansen858]

Honestly,

If they don't make people whole, this WILL be the end of Bitcoin.  It could be the fatal flaw of bitcoin, its too hard to secure. 

[hardpick]

"At this point 744,408 BTC are missing due to malleability-related theft which went unnoticed for several years.
 The cold storage has been wiped out due to a leak in the hot wallet."

Can't they trace the missing 744,408 BTC? This should be traceable somehow?
The people responsible for this theft should be locked up.

And at $500 per bitcoin this is a very large theft

This will have major ramification on the rest of the bitcoin business -- price/trust/security
Yes I know a large number of people want’s Mt Gox gone --- this has now happen -
So next should be bringing the thief to justice.

[NickPortland]

"At this point 744,408 BTC are missing due to malleability-related theft which went unnoticed for several years.
 The cold storage has been wiped out due to a leak in the hot wallet."

Can't they trace the missing 744,408 BTC? This should be traceable somehow?
The people responsible for this theft should be locked up.

And at $500 per bitcoin this is a very large theft

This will have major ramification on the rest of the bitcoin business -- price/trust/security
Yes I know a large number of people want’s Mt Gox gone --- this has now happen -
So next should be bringing the thief to justice.

"At this point 744,408 BTC are missing due to malleability-related theft which went unnoticed for several years.
 The cold storage has been wiped out due to a leak in the hot wallet."

Yea right!

[DieJohnny]

bitfreak! said "This entire thing is mind blowing... a lot of people just got royally screwed by Gox and I feel sorry for them."  A lot of people are having a good time laughing at us, but they don't appreciate that several weeks ago Gox started disallowing BTC withdrawals.  In other words, they closed the god damned bank door.  So how in hell were people supposed to take their coins out and excape this mess?  They couldn't.  It's not as if they were dumb just for trading on the most active exchange in the world.   True enough, Gox was currupt as hell... but Gox offered by far the highest liquidity in the world.  And any smart trader knows that the way to make money is to go where the money is traded.  You don't make any money trading horses if you hang out at a stockyard that trades 5 horses a week.  Bottom line... Gox closed the door weeks ago and wouldn't let traders out.  They literally stole the coins.  Criminal charges will surely by laid.  And yes, I feel sorry for the victims too.  Only classless assholes would laugh at them.

I am a relative bitcoin noob, November 6th was my first purchase. That same week I wired money into Gox, which immediately disappeared into cyber whatever for three months.

I actually used Gox buying and selling BTC I had bought locally for two whole months before seeing just too many tea leaves about incompetence. I have been in too many companies run by people that have way more ego than talent. You run from those companies because when it goes bad it does so quickly, in the dark of night, after yet another BS press release.

I am a fortunate Gox user. I got all my coins out and in hindsight just in time.

On a side note, Mt Gox finally found my original wire transfer a couple of weeks ago after they had suspended Bitcoin withdrawals. I have sat helpless as I have watched my money sit in Mt Gox knowing there was a small chance I would ever see it again.

There have been plenty of warnings, I do count myself as lucky, but if I would have lost all of my money I would have nobody to blame but myself.

[a63ntsm1th]

This story is confirmed by inside source. Look for news very shortly on the matter.

This is a consequence of a fundamental problem with current Bitcoin wallet management system: The centralized storage of keys creates a bank, and banks cannot survive in a sound currency environment.

[DieJohnny]

I think this may be worse then I thought. I'm starting to think about how many people use gox, then I'm starting to think about how many of those people also trade in altcoins. It seems fair to me to assume that a fair amount do. Here's the problem: none of those users will feel safe using any exchange and there not going to want to bother installing 20 clients on their laptop to store their collection of coins.

This could actually be a crypto killer.

Just saying.

I agree that we do not know the full impact yet. I think it has a major psychological impact.

I am a perfect example, when things started to move south a couple weeks ago, I took everything out of every exchange i had. I sold coins and put the balance in an offline wallet. No way I am buying anything for a while.

And I am a Bitcoin zealot!!

[lewisg]

I told my brother last year mtGOX is very risky , lucky he listen to me.

[Minor Miner]

I cannot believe they are so effing stupid that they consider CLIENT ACCOUNTS to be gox's assets.   Fucking idiots.    This is a serious problem in bitcoin:  That people do not understand what is theirs and what should be segregated because it is NOT THEIRS.    Hope they go to prison.

[mc_lovin]

I highly doubt malleability transactions caused all of this...

[pleiotropik]

So sad.    Tomorrow i'm off to localbitcoins to see who wants my fiat. Prices will be good.

[DeathAndTaxes]

I highly doubt malleability transactions caused all of this...

The stock market crash didn't cause Madoff scam, it did however prove to the the pivot event which caused the scheme to unravel.

[erik777]

All those people buying up gox btc feel pretty fucking stupid right about now.

Not sure I see the relevance if Gox does run off with all the BTC and fiat because, until they permit withdrawals, if MtGox was buying BTC on its own exchange, they would just be buying it from their own wallets with fiat that they possessed before and after the transaction. 

[svojoe]

So for those of us that still had a little BTC in gox,    we are left holding the bag huh?  744K BTC is insane to 'vanish'   Its hard to comprehend.

So the long term plan is that they plan to pay us back?   With fees/commissions?  over years?!

[nofuture]

I highly doubt malleability transactions caused all of this...

It's likely that Mark Karpeles and/or other insiders embezzled most if not all of it and that transaction malleability is being used as a smoke screen to cover up half a billion dollars of fraud.

[ddink7]

Honestly,

If they don't make people whole, this WILL be the end of Bitcoin.  It could be the fatal flaw of bitcoin, its too hard to secure. 

Yes, it's virtually impossible to store your coins on a paper wallet away from disreputable exchanges.