Mt Gox falls, is it really hacking or a bank rush ?

[Nicolas Dorier]

Something bother me with exchanges (or whatever online service that keep your bitcoin, without you having the private key) in general.
They claim they keep your bitcoin in an account. So far so good.

But what proof do they have ? Obviously, we don't get the private key, because we need to use their online website to make transfer.
So what proof that the amount of BTC we see is not monopoly money ?

I suspect Mt Gox not being destroyed by hackers, but by a classic bank rush triggered by breech of trust because of a small malleability attack.
What prevent Mt Gox to tell you they have your bitcoin in your account, while they really possess 10% of it ? (As our banks does)

I don't want to discuss whether exchanges or bitcoin banks are trusthworthy, I only want to discuss, what is the proof that such company possess the BTC they claim they own us ? (Again, our normal banks obviously, don't have our money in the vault)

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[Meuh6879]

no proof.



when you traid ... you must accept the risk of all loose even when it's the operator in service that it fail (or lie).

[Nicolas Dorier]

What bother me is that they say you have a BTC account, but in reality you have no BTC, but only "Mt Gox BTC". Which is an alternative, centralized money.
And if those fake BTC get destroyed by the central authority (in this case Mt Gox), the media will say BTC is not secure, while such paper money have nothing to do with BTC...

Why people store money on bank or exchange accounts ? it just neutralizes all the advantages of possessing real BTC.

[Lauda]

You only own the Bitcoins if you own the private key. Nobody owned their coins on Mt.Gox, Mark did.

[Nicolas Dorier]

I understand, they had the same business plan as bank after all. Except for the baillout part.

[Malin Keshar]

hacking
they stole the money and are trying make us believe that they have been hacked
they lost the private keys
they have been bribed by chinese and russian govs and are working to destroy bitcoin
any other theory


we will never know for sure what is going on. Maybe decades later, when the historians will write about the early days of bitcoins?