For Desperate Mt Gox Victims, Long-Shot Bitcoin Deal Beats Endless Wait

[HankMobley]

A Russian law firm’s audacious proposal for recovering up to $2 billion stolen from Mt. Gox in return for a steep fee has divided the failed bitcoin exchange’s creditors.

[coindesk](https://www.coindesk.com/for-desperate-mt-gox-victims-long-shot-bitcoin-deal-beats-endless-wait)

[LoveUJack]

So, Mt. Gox hack was related to BTC-e and BitMixer.io? And the common point of connection is Alexander Vinnik?

[mohdk52]

MT.GOX once again forced sobriety on, reminding of the existence of scams in the crypto sphere

[gentlemand]

So, Mt. Gox hack was related to BTC-e and BitMixer.io? And the common point of connection is Alexander Vinnik?

There's plenty of conjecture about Vinnik, BTC-e and Gox. Didn't know about Bitmixer.

This law firm has popped up a few times here now. It all sounds extremely questionable to me but everything in Russia sounds extremely questionable.

"ZP Legal offered to file police reports in Russia on the creditors’ behalf. Then, creditors would have to wait for alleged BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik to get extradited to Russia and for the police to find the other culprits — with ZP Legal’s help. The thieves would either plead guilty and return the stolen funds to receive lighter sentences, or get convicted and then be sued by creditors for damages."

That all sounds ludicrous with speculation piling on top of speculation and even if every link in the chain holds up, and it won't, the process looks like it would take many, many years.

If I were a Russian Gox type with a bit of money left and I believed any of this will play out like they seem to want to believe it will I'd recruit my own lawyer for a fraction of the cost. And it seems like someone already has.

[Kakmakr]

So, Mt. Gox hack was related to BTC-e and BitMixer.io? And the common point of connection is Alexander Vinnik?

There's plenty of conjecture about Vinnik, BTC-e and Gox. Didn't know about Bitmixer.

This law firm has popped up a few times here now. It all sounds extremely questionable to me but everything in Russia sounds extremely questionable.

"ZP Legal offered to file police reports in Russia on the creditors’ behalf. Then, creditors would have to wait for alleged BTC-e operator Alexander Vinnik to get extradited to Russia and for the police to find the other culprits — with ZP Legal’s help. The thieves would either plead guilty and return the stolen funds to receive lighter sentences, or get convicted and then be sued by creditors for damages."

That all sounds ludicrous with speculation piling on top of speculation and even if every link in the chain holds up, and it won't, the process looks like it would take many, many years.

If I were a Russian Gox type with a bit of money left and I believed any of this will play out like they seem to want to believe it will I'd recruit my own lawyer for a fraction of the cost. And it seems like someone already has.

Well, the only way that Bitmixer.io would have been involved, would have been if those people used Bitmixer.io after the supposed hack to mix those coins. Bitmixer.io was the largest Bitcoin mixing service provider from 2014 to 2017 and the owner always said that they had any logs for the mixing that was done on the site. <So even if it was raided, nobody would find any logs that would have been kept>

Those coins that were not recovered, will never be recovered in the future... because if it went through Bitmixer.io it would have been spend already and then it is gone forever.  

[gentlemand]

Well, the only way that Bitmixer.io would have been involved, would have been if those people used Bitmixer.io after the supposed hack to mix those coins. Bitmixer.io was the largest Bitcoin mixing service provider from 2014 to 2017 and the owner always said that they had any logs for the mixing that was done on the site. <So even if it was raided, nobody would find any logs that would have been kept>

Those coins that were not recovered, will never be recovered in the future... because if it went through Bitmixer.io it would have been spend already and then it is gone forever.  

I thought the whole point of BTC-e was to be where all the money was laundered. No way would a bunch of criminals that prolific outsource the handling of their ill gotten gains.

I'm surprised anyone does it with any third party mixer like the recent Binance hackers who supposedly went through Chipmixer. If I were running a mixer I'd tell them to fuck off for bringing needless trouble to me.

[squatter]

So, Mt. Gox hack was related to BTC-e and BitMixer.io? And the common point of connection is Alexander Vinnik?

There's plenty of conjecture about Vinnik, BTC-e and Gox. Didn't know about Bitmixer.

I see nothing in the article about Bitmixer -- what are you guys talking about? Coincidentally, they mysteriously shut down just two days before BTC-e went down. I don't think they were directly related, though -- just two of the largest pieces in the darknet market puzzle at that time.

I'm surprised anyone does it with any third party mixer like the recent Binance hackers who supposedly went through Chipmixer. If I were running a mixer I'd tell them to fuck off for bringing needless trouble to me.

Association with darknet markets seems to get a lot more attention. Something also tells me that mixers aren't doing the sort of taint analysis that Chainalysis or Ciphertrace does.

[gentlemand]

Association with darknet markets seems to get a lot more attention. Something also tells me that mixers aren't doing the sort of taint analysis that Chainalysis or Ciphertrace does.

If I were operating one I'd be keeping an eye on the hottest addresses. It's almost inevitable they'll pay you a visit.

Aiding privacy and allowing druggists to get by is fine by me. No way would I want my service to allow known thieves to get away clean but that's me.

[squatter]

Association with darknet markets seems to get a lot more attention. Something also tells me that mixers aren't doing the sort of taint analysis that Chainalysis or Ciphertrace does.

If I were operating one I'd be keeping an eye on the hottest addresses. It's almost inevitable they'll pay you a visit.

Aiding privacy and allowing druggists to get by is fine by me. No way would I want my service to allow known thieves to get away clean but that's me.

A mixer that blacklists or steals "tainted" outputs could never be trusted. The only honest way to run a mixer is to treat bitcoins as fully fungible. I think once you start injecting your own ethics like that, you're entering muddy waters.

From a rational viewpoint, law enforcement has made far more busts in the DNM sector -- Silk Road, Alphabay, Hansa, Wall Street Market, Valhalla, the list goes on. They even went after Deep Dot Web earlier this year. For that reason, I reckon mixers willing to serve dark web customers are willing to serve anybody.

I can't imagine the likes of the US government caring about Binance losing 7,000 bitcoins either. There were no US victims so they have absolutely no reason to lift a finger.

[Mandoy]

This is shocking knowing that Alexander Vinnik who is behind BTC-E is alsho behind MT-GOX. With this data I dont know if the hacking was really done by somebody outside the exchange or it is done by an insider with Alexander as the mastermind. Though this is just my conspiculation but I wonder why he is connected to both exchange. Here is another fishy item , why would the russian law firm will give a deal that they have a way of returning the money but they will eat 60 to 70% of the funds that will be recovered. I just think its fishy and there is no longer hope for the victims to recover their losses.

[gentlemand]

why would the russian law firm will give a deal that they have a way of returning the money but they will eat 60 to 70% of the funds that will be recovered. I just think its fishy and there is no longer hope for the victims to recover their losses.

They're a law firm. It's their job to extract as much money as humanly possible from any situation they wind up in. In this particular case they believe they have an in where other firms do not so they can rape the people who sign up with them.

Whether them and only them can make this happen seems extremely debatable to me but who knows how truly rotten Russia is?