Bitcoinica Under New Management

[GoWest]

This press release is extremely vague considering the implications.  Was Bitcoinica sold?  If so, for how much?  I can't imagine that he just voluntarily gave up the reins.

https://www.bitcoinica.com/posts/joining-forces-with-bitcoin-consultancy

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bitcoinica joins forces with Bitcoin Consultancy
April 24, 2012 —

It's a "big news" week at Bitcoinica. After announcing our corporate reorganization as a registered Financial Services Provider, we'd like to share another big announcement. Going forward, Bitcoinca will be managed and operated by the well known Bitcoin Consultancy team.

Bitcoin Consultancy has been an influential force for bitcoin since its early days. Founders Donald Norman, Patrick Strateman and Amir Taaki are well known for their contributions to bitcoin open source, public outreach, and special efforts to encourage best practices in online security.

The Bitcoin Consultancy team will be responsible for the daily operations of Bitcoinica, including customer support, compliance and new features. We have some amazing improvements in the works that we know our customers will love.

As Bitcoinica's founder I will continue to be involved in Bitcoinica, both aiding in the operational transition and as an ongoing contributor the long-term vision for Bitcoinica.

I have enjoyed our journey together and look forward to exciting times ahead.

Zhou Tong

Bitcoinica operates one of the most popular Bitcoin trading platforms, with advanced features such as margin trading, short selling and stop orders. Bitcoin users can use Bitcoinica to trade Bitcoins, exchange currencies and receive interests on deposits.

Press Contact

The Bitcoinica Team
Email: info@bitcoinica.com
Website: https://www.bitcoinica.com

[cypherdoc]

sounds to me like Zhou just needed help esp. after losing 45K BTC's and who better than the Intersango team.  i think Patrick also demonstrated some security holes to Zhou and made him realize he couldn't do it alone.  just speculating.

[Stephen Gornick]

sounds to me like Zhou just needed help esp. after losing 45K BTC's and who better than the Intersango team.  i think Patrick also demonstrated some security holes to Zhou and made him realize he couldn't do it alone.  just speculating.

Or that the 17 year old founder is now 18 and attending college in Australia.  Since you cannot serve two masters, operating bitcoin's second largest (by volume of funds transacted) business on the side is the one that had to get moved to have someone else take care of it.
 - http://twitter.com/#!/zhoutong/status/185745407064817664

[MelMan2002]

And it probably gives people more confidence in Bitcoinica knowing that there is more than a 17 year-old behind it.  Might have been a big reason for this.

[N12]

A "Bitcoin Consultancy" with the aim to "to take bitcoin outside the world of tech geeks and hobbyists into the real world" now teams up with a semi-bucket shop?

As if running an exchange wouldn’t have put them in a biased enough role. That’s ridiculous.

I sure hope Zhoutong paid them well to be his secretary.

[stochastic]

I am really suspicious of this.  A week after it is announced that Bitcoinica is legally registered to do what it does (whatever that means), it goes under new direct management.  Unless Zhou needs to focus more on his studies or there is some kind of plan to seriously compete against MtGox, this would suggest Bitcoinica is not as profitable as claimed.  Of course losing 45,000 bitcoins would hurt anyone.

[zhoutong]

I am really suspicious of this.  A week after it is announced that Bitcoinica is legally registered to do what it does (whatever that means), it goes under new direct management.  Unless Zhou needs to focus more on his studies or there is some kind of plan to seriously compete against MtGox, this would suggest Bitcoinica is not as profitable as claimed.  Of course losing 45,000 bitcoins would hurt anyone.

I have been utilising a lot of assistance from other people (including Intersango guys) since 6 months ago.

I don't have too much time for day-to-day operations because of studies.

Losing bitcoins is not part of the concern.

[HorseRider]

This is very good news. A bull market need professional, dedicated and teamwork operation. Zhou Tong is very smart but he is not a team and part time CEO.

Bitcoin Consultancy is very talented and promising bitcoin team. They've tried their best to provide an exchange service. However, since the exchange business has very strong network effect, the performance and profit of their exchange cannot reflect their contribution to the community. If they start to work on Bitcoinica, they can bring their us more on this platform.


P.S


Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, which one will be the first to contact bitcoinica to open an institutional account?

[friedcat]

This is very good news. A bull market need professional, dedicated and teamwork operation. Zhou Tong is very smart but he is not a team and part time CEO.

Bitcoin Consultancy is very talented and promising bitcoin team. They've tried their best to provide an exchange service. However, since the exchange business has very strong network effect, the performance and profit of their exchange cannot reflect their contribution to the community. If they start to work on Bitcoinica, they can bring their us more on this platform.


P.S


Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, which one will be the first to contact bitcoinica to open an institutional account?

I guess smaller and more agile financial companies will be already working with bitcoinica long before that.

[tritium]

I think this is good news, i've always liked the britcoin/intersango operation and aside from one screwup (releasing email addresses) they have been ver professional and i have had very good service from them

[Seal]

Great news I guess. The Intersango guys provide a great service and are by far one of the most reliable brokers out there.