Bitcoin Disaster Relief

[pungopete468]

As a community we need to band together in times of great need; this is one of those times...

No doubt several members on this forum along with thousands of others have suffered a great loss today. I suggest we designate a reputable charity for donations intended to help our fellow Bitcoin enthusiasts recover from this disaster. Even if we can't recover everything that they lost, at least we might salvage some of the enthusiasm.

Bitcoin survives on confidence, trust, and utility. Those who are affected by the collapse of MtGox are likely short on the first two. Bitcoin as a whole will suffer for their losses.

I pledge to donate part of my minuscule Bitcoin stash to a reputable charity once a satisfactory method of proving an actual loss has been determined. I don't have much but everything I've got took hard work to earn. As a community I feel that these are the times that will define us. This is where we need to shine; lets pull this mess together and stitch it up the best we can!

What do you think?

[daviducsb]

I think it is an interesting idea that would show people the power of bitcoin. Us seasoned pros knew many months ago that gox was a goner, but I'm sure a lot of newbies got caught up in the gox mess. Why not help them out?

[inoob]

Is anyone catching onto this "donate" stuff??? donate for a Bitcoin flag in space. donate to call Karpeles a b@tch to this face. easiest frickin scam in the book!!!

[pungopete468]

I didn't lose anything at Gox.

I figured they were insolvent the moment they halted USD withdrawal. Unfortunately, most people don't look at things the same way I do. I've explained to everybody I know who owns Bitcoin that Gox was most likely a dead stick. My greatest concern is that nobody else I talked to about it in the real world had the slightest idea that Gox was insolvent. Too many people bought Bitcoin and transferred them straight to Gox because the price was higher than other exchanges.

I feel like the impact of this is further reaching than in the past... Far too many new enthusiasts will be devastated by this closure.

[pungopete468]

Is anyone catching onto this "donate" stuff??? donate for a Bitcoin flag in space. donate to call Karpeles a b@tch to this face. easiest frickin scam in the book!!!

Donating to a good cause isn't a scam. I wouldn't contribute to any charity that I didn't feel worthwhile.

[flipstyle]

>>scam victims on every other thread here on bct
>>but let's open up a charity for those who were dumb enough to keep their btc on mtgoy after months of warning

Seems legit.

[makoto1337]

I lost 0.1 BTC. Feel free to help me out: 1JWyjsTWLmsBycgNZKcfigffgTAg7S2Aes

[NickPortland]

I lost 0.1 BTC. Feel free to help me out: 1JWyjsTWLmsBycgNZKcfigffgTAg7S2Aes

I got it worse

[pungopete468]

>>scam victims on every other thread here on bct
>>but let's open up a charity for those who were dumb enough to keep their btc on mtgoy after months of warning

Seems legit.

- This isn't an isolated incident and we're all affected either directly or indirectly.
- It will need to be a reputable charity; I wonder if CoinBase would be interested in some PR... Perhaps they could help with escrow.
- There will need to be proof of loss, not just a claim. If you can't prove your transfers then you won't see any relief.

- Tell that to a mainstream consumer who had no warning. Don't assume that everybody else has the same knowledge that you do even if they do have access to the same information.

[theshoemaker]

This is the only thread anywhere that doesn't increase the extreme discomfort I have right now.  I'm extremely skeptical this could actually work out.  But I really appreciate the sentiment.

[makoto1337]

I was being sarcastic!

[achillez]

I lost 0.1 BTC. Feel free to help me out: 1JWyjsTWLmsBycgNZKcfigffgTAg7S2Aes

bah I lost 5.8 BTC. Stupid f'ing mtgox sux monkey balls. Sad thing is they sent me an email 1 week ago saying your coins are safe, blah blah blah.

[pungopete468]

This is the only thread anywhere that doesn't increase the extreme discomfort I have right now.  I'm extremely skeptical this could actually work out.  But I really appreciate the sentiment.

So the biggest problem right now is proving a loss. As somebody who lost coins, can you provide insight into any method that your loss can be proven?

I think if we can figure out an acceptable method of proving the losses then it can work...

[NickPortland]

I was being sarcastic!

You shouldn't joke on people's lives.
Some had their whole life savings on Gox, due to the media promoting it as the best and most secure exchange.

As a community, it's pretty sad to not only be indifferent, but also mock people who LOST EVERYTHING due in part to our own investment reccomandations.


Years of "Bitcoin is the s***, you should invest, yadda yadda" then now "ahahah, fu** the goxxed fools"?

[V4Vendettas]

I pretty much have my life savings on Gox/MtGox whatever. When I first joined gox and the bitcoin community as a whole back in 2011 I had £1000 to my name.

I took a lot of huge gambles over the last 2 years and in my opinion did fairly well in fact I had over 17k euros by the "end" sitting on gox. Not counting the money I withdrew to live on.

Easy come easy go and with the risks I was taking along the way this was always a very real possibility.

Bitcoin was still a great experience for me and I'm glad I was in for the ride (yes I'm still a believer).

I wouldn't want a single donation from anyone and would refuse it respectfully as I was a risk taker from the get go

I think the best thing this community can do is offer support in a form that would potentially prevent the very real chance of suicides.
Its ow so easy to forget there are real people behind the curtain of the internet and many of them are hurting and suffering.


http://www.helpguide.org/mental/suicide_help.htm

[pungopete468]

I pretty much have my life savings on Gox/MtGox whatever. When I first joined gox and the bitcoin community as a whole back in 2011 I had £1000 to my name.

I took a lot of huge gambles over the last 2 years and in my opinion did fairly well in fact I had over 17k euros by the "end" sitting on gox. Not counting the money I withdrew to live on.

Easy come easy go and with the risks I was taking along the way this was always a very real possibility.

Bitcoin was still a great experience for me and I'm glad I was in for the ride (yes I'm still a believer).

I wouldn't want a single donation from anyone and would refuse it respectfully as I was a risk taker from the get go

I think the best thing this community can do is offer support in a form that would potentially prevent the very real chance of suicides.
Its ow so easy to forget there are real people behind the curtain of the internet and many of them are hurting and suffering.


http://www.helpguide.org/mental/suicide_help.htm

I agree 100% with what you said and I hope that there are many more people with the fortitude to successfully brush off a loss like this. Choosing not to accept a handout speaks to one's character. However, failing to offer assistance to those who suffer will also speak for who we are...

Bitcoin will show the world a face in light of these events; the public will respond to whichever side we show them. If we look away now there's only negative...

[5thStreetResearch]

Hate seeing anyone lose money to crooks, but if you still had money on Mt Gox after they've been having problems for as long as they have you probably deserved to lose your balance.  A fool and his money are soon parted.

[bananas]

i had nothing there, but i was tense about the situation. the tension is gone, i did not know that death could be any good.

[makoto1337]

I was being sarcastic!

You shouldn't joke on people's lives.
Some had their whole life savings on Gox, due to the media promoting it as the best and most secure exchange.

As a community, it's pretty sad to not only be indifferent, but also mock people who LOST EVERYTHING due in part to our own investment reccomandations.


Years of "Bitcoin is the s***, you should invest, yadda yadda" then now "ahahah, fu** the goxxed fools"?

You're right. I'm not trying to make fun of the people who lost money. This hurts us all and I hope that Gox will try to reimburse some of the funds that were lost.

[pungopete468]

Hate seeing anyone lose money to crooks, but if you still had money on Mt Gox after they've been having problems for as long as they have you probably deserved to lose your balance.  A fool and his money are soon parted.

Unfortunately the problems weren't obvious to the average user until the BTC withdrawals were halted. By then it was too late...

Average people who read about Bitcoin in a news article, bought some, and stored it in Gox will be the ones who won't come back. The people who weren't inundated by Bitcoins charm and promise weren't likely to suspect anything was wrong outside of some form of conflict with international USD transfers. The average user probably had no reason to visit this forum or look into Gox's history.

When people sell Bitcoin in hopes of buying back cheaper; I don't fret.
When people sell Bitcoin never to return; that's something we all need to be very concerned about.

This type of event breeds bad relationships. People are social creatures; if one is ripped off, their entire social group is aware. It takes an exponentially higher number of positive experiences to influence a group of people as much a single negative experience.

This is a major setback...