Mark K "The coins are not lost, just temporarily unavailable" - chat log

[Rawted]

Thoughts?

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2014/02/25/mt-gox-ceo-says-on-internet-chat-hasnt-given-up/

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[pungopete468]

It means the coins still exist; somewhere... He just doesn't own the private key for them...

[Rawted]

It means the coins still exist; somewhere... He just doesn't own the private key for them...

Then why say temporarily? That indicates to me that they weren't stolen.

[Lloydie]

That's right: bitcoin reserves are probably still out in the wild, though likely insufficient to cover 750k in coin liabilities.

Karpeles will have to cough up if he wants to avoid jail time.

[pungopete468]

It means the coins still exist; somewhere... He just doesn't own the private key for them...

Then why say temporarily? That indicates to me that they weren't stolen.

When he said temporary it means, "We just haven't been able to buy them back yet..."

[Rawted]

It means the coins still exist; somewhere... He just doesn't own the private key for them...

Then why say temporarily? That indicates to me that they weren't stolen.

When he said temporary it means, "We just haven't been able to buy them back yet..."

Lol, you're reading more into it than I am.

[Lloydie]

It means the coins still exist; somewhere... He just doesn't own the private key for them...

Then why say temporarily? That indicates to me that they weren't stolen.

Cold storage coins cannot be stolen for it would imply incredible stupidity amounting to gross negligence and outright fraud.  I speculate it has been moved to a "safe place".  

[Ibian]

The guy is a fraud. Don't believe a word he says. Even if he told the truth up there, he didn't specify if he was talking about the money on gox or his own personal money. Read closer.

[pungopete468]

He claims not to know how many coins he lost out of his own personal wallet...

How can that be? Let me guess... He discovered a bug in subtraction...

[T.Stuart]

It means the coins still exist; somewhere... He just doesn't own the private key for them...

Then why say temporarily? That indicates to me that they weren't stolen

It's the "not just yet" that bothers me.

[smoothie]

LOL @ unavailable bitcoins not lost.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

[gog1]

Gox should file for bankruptcy, let trustee and professionals handle this matter.  This is in the best interest of everyone.

[traderCJ]

I read it differently - MK is referring to his personal stash of coins, not the exchange's.

[BitcoinAshley]

In other words:

"If you like your Bitcoins, you can keep them"
-Mark Karpeles

[Lloydie]

Gox should file for bankruptcy, let trustee and professionals handle this matter.  This is in the best interest of everyone.

And perhaps more critically, avoid jail time for senior management.

[Notanon]

I think the subpoena by the US Justice Department might actually be responsible for why the coins were "unavailable". Also might explain why he couldn't say a thing about what was going on and why he was consulting a lawyer this morning.

[Beta-coiner1]

Hahaha,The Japanese authorities are looking into it.We'll see how this goes I think many will obviously be looking at the network very closely and on stamp and other exchanges for big sells.

Many of us knew they couldn't stay relevant while halting withdrawals on money and bitcoins as well...it doesn't give confidence.I am actually now wondering what happens to their IP considering I think someone mentioned they bought the bitcoin nick.

[CompNsci]

I read it differently - MK is referring to his personal stash of coins, not the exchange's.

I think this is quite likely. His comment was in response to the question: "How much did you lose yourself?".

His answers about the document as a whole were vague, that it was legit "more or less".

[Lloydie]

Just quoting Antonopoulos from here: http://antonopoulos.com/2014/02/25/

Based on this blog, it appears their “cold storage” was not in fact “cold” – which is either a stunning misrepresentation of their security or an outright lie. “Cold storage” does not “leak”. The idea that the funds were stolen, unnoticed, from cold storage, due to Transaction Malleability, strains the credulity of even the most gullible observers.

[romerun]

maybe they lost the passwd to decrypt the private keys and bruteforcing it on aws cloud

[eldentyrell]

I think the subpoena by the US Justice Department might actually be responsible for why the coins were "unavailable".

Ah!  Yes, that sounds about right.

I can definitely see a federal magistrate interpreting his/her subpoena power to require they "preserve certain documents" to include not sending any BTC out of the company's wallets.

[tvbcof]

I'd advise that anyone who wants 'their' BTC back from Mt. Gox to make ready to register with the authorities and be prepared provide a credible and documented description of how those sent to Mt. Gox came into one's possession.

[Zarathustra]

LOL @ unavailable bitcoins not lost.

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

The coins are stored in a brain wallet. He hopes that he'll remember the key sometime in the future.
HOPE! HOPE for the species of the hopeful ones.

[Carra23]

It means the coins still exist; somewhere... He just doesn't own the private key for them...

Then why say temporarily? That indicates to me that they weren't stolen.

When he said temporary it means, "We just haven't been able to buy them back yet..."

Agree to this. the whole chain of events since gox blamed Bitcoin protocol stinks of manipulation.

[Mythul]

My reply to MK:

[SGExodus]

Their cold wallet may have been attacked by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CryptoLocker, or paper wallet storage ninja by the Yakuza.

[uhoh]

My reply to MK:

I confess! I LOL'd

[cr1776]

The guy is a fraud. Don't believe a word he says. Even if he told the truth up there, he didn't specify if he was talking about the money on gox or his own personal money. Read closer.

In the chat he said all his bitcoins were at Gox. IF you believe him.

[BidcoinBernd]

"temporarily unavailable" means they want to rebrand, continue operation and earn the coins back. But it's unlikely that's gonna happen. The coins are gone.

[T.Stuart]

The guy is a fraud. Don't believe a word he says. Even if he told the truth up there, he didn't specify if he was talking about the money on gox or his own personal money. Read closer.

In the chat he said all his bitcoins were at Gox. IF you believe him.

He did not say all the Bitcoins are at Gox.

He said they are not "lost yet" just "temporarily unavailable". 

Man it's got to be hard to say "all gone" but he's trying!

[seldon]

Maybe the thief was stupid enough to actually use his real personal account? The coins will become available again, once the hitmen find him

[cbeast]

Perhaps he made a 750K BTC nLockTime transaction for block #6,929,999 by mistake.

[solid12345]

This reminds me of the scene in "The Master" where Joaquin Phoenix is imploring Philip Seymour Hoffman to just for once in his life, tell him something that is true!

[wobber]

TRUE: if I send my coins to a random address, they;re not lost. Just temporarily unavailable (until I manage do crack the private key)

[MinerLT]

TRUE: if I send my coins to a random address, they;re not lost. Just temporarily unavailable (until I manage do crack the private key)

Maybe super powerful pc can crack that within few years

[galbros]

He's answering the question about how many coins he personally lost, I think the Gox coins are mostly gone.

[Skoupi]

The more i hear from Karpeles the more i think that he doesn't have a clue about how big his business is and how much money are involved.

[jamesc760]

Don't believe a word out of his mouth. He's been trying to cover his butt ever since. Think of the hole he's in, and you can see why he's saying it. He's like a little child, caught red-handed and trying to come up with one excuse after another.

[Cluster2k]

Quite clearly he's only stating how many bitcoins he has lost himself.  That's what the question is asking.  It does not refer to MtGox at all.  Mark is doing the right thing by being very vague with his answers.  What exactly does 'temporarily unavailable' mean?  It can mean that I don't have the bitcoins right now, but in 5 minutes I will have them.  See?  I didn't lie.

[theomar]

Karpeles has a lot of bitcoins. He is an early adopter and he was running one of the biggest exchanges. He must have more than 100k btc for himself in cold storage which was not related with mtgox. He is not an idiot he is told to pretend it. For sure a lot of bitcoins may have been lost but the problem here is the trust. If mtgox enable bitcoin withdrawals and the 550k costomers or a portion of them loose trust and try to sell their bitcoins then the price will go down down down... So the best strategy for him and for big investors is to claim that all btc had been lost if the majority eat that manipulation. The "leaked" document and the irc conversion is for testing reactions.

Pure manipulation...

[FormerlyAnonymous]

Without commenting on the veracity of any of this, what I took from Karpeles' statement was that all of his personal bitcoin was being held as MtGoxBTC, and, since the exchange was physically offline, he was not able to access it at the moment.  I'm too lazy to dig up a reference but that reading seemed to me to be pretty clear from the full context of the IRC log.  That conversation took place before the announcement about bankruptcy and before the 750k number was mentioned.  The 750k, again as I understood it, was lost by MtGox the company.

IIRC Karpeles declined to comment on how much personal BTC he held (specifically, IIRC he claimed not to be sure).

[Oldminer]

$113m in Gox Bitcoins Believed To Be Moving Through Block Chain

"Large amounts of bitcoins previously handled by Mt Gox, which have lain dormant for years, have started moving on the block chain."

http://www.coindesk.com/gox-money-moving-through-block-chain/