Instawallet is shutting down (Update: not anymore, a new owner has been found)

[jav]

I have decided to shut down Instawallet for the time being. More details at www.instawallet.org . It was a great experience creating and running Instawallet, but at the moment I don't have the time and resources to continue to support the site. Thanks everyone for your support throughout the history of the project!

Full quote from the site:

Instawallet is shutting down. Please withdraw all your funds over the next days. The site will remain active until most funds have been withdrawn. Any remaining claims will then be dealt with manually.

Please note: Some of Instawallet's funds are in cold storage. Depending on how quickly users are withdrawing, the site might occasionally run out of funds until I move more coins out of storage. Please do not panic in that case and just try again a few hours or a day later. All funds are completely accounted for and can be returned in full.

A number of factors have come together for me to decide to shut down the site. The main reason though is that I currently do not have the time necessary to continue running the site and deal with issues properly. I have had people interested in buying the site in the past, so it might continue in a different form. (If you are interested in acquiring Instawallet feel free to get in touch with me.) I have not decided on that yet though.

It was a great experience for me to provide this tool to the Bitcoin community over the past months and I have definitely learned a lot. It was a tough decision for me to make, but it will also allow me to focus on new projects. I'm looking forward to see how the Bitcoin ecosystem develops further.

Thanks for all your support!
Jan

[Jine]

Interested in selling the customers/site/system? Contact me via e-mail / PM.

[Yankee (BitInstant)]

We are sorry to see such a pioneer in the Bitcoin industry go!

We are interested as well in hearing more about your company.

A quick and easy buyout, merge, or takeover is possible as we have the worldwide infrastructure to do it!

Get in touch!

Charlie Shrem, CEO BitInstant
Time is Money!
charlie@bitinstant.com

NYC, United Kingdom, Japan.

[bitstarter]

Sorry to hear this :/

[Stephen Gornick]

Thank you Jav for having created the concept of an anonymous online instant e-wallet service.

I am reminded of the utility of InstaWallet each time I want to hand out a small, sample amount of bitcoins to someone who I wouldn't expect would install the Bitcoin client or to immediately create an account at an exchange.

The service will be missed.  I do see that there is a similar service now available.  Their "Instant Bucket" is pretty similar in functionality to an InstaWallet:
 - https://www.btcbuckets.com

Some of these wallets are held by those who won't learn of this shutdown notice.   Without any way to notify them, some will lose their coins.  Even though the site mentioned recommended usage was only for "small change", I suspect there are some InstaWallets that hold significant amounts.  Would there be some way for wallets (maybe just those over a certain amount) be claimable for an extended period of time?

[jav]

Some of these wallets are held by those who won't learn of this shutdown notice.   Without any way to notify them, some will lose their coins.  Would there be some way for wallets (maybe just those over a certain amount) be claimable for an extended period of time?

Definitely. At the very least people will always be able to get in touch with me via e-mail and by providing the Instawallet link and a return address I will sent them their funds. I will give it a few weeks to see for how many remaining accounts this will be necessary.

[Phinnaeus Gage]

I've just donated my remaining balance of .58584966 BTC on Instawallet to Bitcoin 100. Here is the donation address for those who may also have bitcents still on deposit there and want to contribute: 1BTC1oo1J3MEt5SFj74ZBcF2Mk97Aah4ac

The goal is to make Rassah earn his keep by now having to record, hopefully, a slew of transactions. Thank you kindly for considering this option.

~Bruno~

https://www.instawallet.org/static/notice.html?v=ecc06

A number of factors have come together for me to decide to shut down the site. The main reason though is that I currently do not have the time necessary to continue running the site and deal with issues properly. I have had people interested in buying the site in the past, so it might continue in a different form. (If you are interested in acquiring Instawallet feel free to get in touch with me.) I have not decided on that yet though.

[D.H.]

Thanks Jan for creating Instawallet! It's a great concept and a great way to quickly introduce people to Bitcoin. Hope that it will live on in some form.

[Alphonso Bedoya]

Sorry to hear it. Thanks very much for your excellent work. Peace.

[hazek]

EDIT: nvm works now

[bbit]

How long should it take for bitcoins to leave instawallet? I moved some bitcoins from a few instawallet address's ....

[jav]

How long should it take for bitcoins to leave instawallet? I moved some bitcoins from a few instawallet address's ....

With the large of number of transactions at the moment, it might take several hours if not up to a day (for the transactions to confirm). Please just give it some time, it will reach you eventually.

[bbit]

Nevermind they came over nicely 

[teflone]

WTF!!!   


I really liked instawallet..

how the hell can this happen ?

[SgtSpike]

Someone please buy this and keep it running...!

[FreeMoney]

Googling "instawallet clone" gives seemingly full instructions. Someone really should do this. If it is a reputable person I can promise some advertising money from Seals.

I've been using instawallet to show new players at Seals how Bitcoin works. I think it will make them more comfortable buying coins to play with.

[trout]

has there been an attempt to wash some of the recently stolen money using instawallet?

I'd guess this might be one of the reasons for it to close.

[Jine]

We've been in discussion with jav regarding buying the site, and we will unfortunately not go through with it.

I hope someone else steps up and have the money to invest in it.

--
Regards, Jim
Bit LC Inc.
https://www.bitlc.net

[ribuck]

Maybe Instawallet needs to be operated by an autonomous agent rather than a human.

[SgtSpike]

I kind of hate to bring this up, but given that jav gets to keep all the coins that go unclaimed.... well, I'd call that pretty big incentive to shut it down.