[Payout Updates] Bitcoinica site is taken offline for security investigation

[BadBitcoin (James Sutton)]

~35% of claimants are marked accurate
~86% of total funds are marked accurate
~25% of total funds have been repaid

[12:45:25] Amir Taaki: if we spend a whole day doing claims over skype
[12:45:33] Amir Taaki: we can maybe finish 50 of them in a day
[12:46:14] Incitatus: dude I have so many lined up for patrick to do
[12:46:21] Incitatus: where all the work is done
[12:46:49] Incitatus: he spent from friday to monday working on trying to automate withdraws
[12:47:04] Amir Taaki: i can do withdrawals
[12:47:14] Amir Taaki: we need those bitcoinica payments out
[12:47:16] Incitatus: you can build code to automate it?
[12:47:19] Amir Taaki: no
[12:47:19] Incitatus: you can't do withdraws
[12:47:47] Incitatus: everythign you touch that has to do with money blows up in our face
[12:48:08] Incitatus: we cannot fuck up
[12:48:12] Amir Taaki: ok
[12:49:47] Incitatus: looks like a good article
[12:49:53] Incitatus: can't read it now
[12:58:56] Amir Taaki: so what's happening with bitcoinica payments?
[12:59:05] Amir Taaki: why doesn't patrick give you some mtgox USD?
[12:59:58] Amir Taaki: i see lots of claims marked as accurate though. very nice.
[13:02:06] Incitatus: yea idk, too busy i guess. As long as mtgox wouldn't lock my account down then that would be cool but that's very possible. Techinically we'd have to get permission i think that's why
[13:02:23] Incitatus: but yea there are many that patrick himself has to do and we're just waiting on that
[13:02:26] Incitatus: obv he's uber busy

(about blow ups, I am careless/irresponsible and not security conscious - hence I don't have admin root access on Intersango.)

Zhou is totally correct in what he says. We (Bitcoin Consultancy) have taken on responsibility for the payments. In order to do that, we had to complete the paperwork for the formation of Bitcoinica Consultancy. He's also not directly involved, but has been helpful with the odd query when needed (despite not being involved).

About converting the balances: if you prefer USD, then you can specify it on your payments option for the claims.

I think he meant "which is easier to facilitate the claim", not necessarily which he prefers.

[naima53]

: if you prefer USD, then you can specify it on your payments option for the claims.

Thank you!  (I hope vice versa is possible too ..)

[bitcoinBull]

[...] The only thing we are guilty of is that Patrick's personal email got added access to critical infrastructure without his knowledge, and that his email was compromised. And now it is us that bears the brunt of processing payouts.

Why are bringing up Patrick's email again?

Patrick requested him to be added because he wanted to reset server root passwords. And he did receive several email reset confirmations. Whether the email is his personal email or work email, it shouldn't matter. It's the same email that he use to receive the confirmations and all Bitcoinica sensitive emails.

According to zhou, Patrick's email was added at Patrick's request to reset passwords. I can't believe Bitcoin Consultancy doesn't have their story straight this late in the game, and we are still seeing communication failures among their team.

[genjix]

about forum PMs - please email the address. Getting too many messages and need them all in one place.

[genjix]

bitcoinBull, OK, take it up with Patrick. I'm just retelling a story.

[flower1024]

about forum PMs - please email the address. Getting too many messages and need them all in one place.

btw you didn't answered my mails:
7/1/2012 to bitcoin.reimburse@gmail.com
or
6/22/2012 to genjix@riseup.net

but thanks again that i got my first 50% btc a while ago...

EDIT: got an replay. thank you.
...removed email text

[bitcoinBull]

bitcoinBull, OK, take it up with Patrick. I'm just retelling a story.

No, you take it up with Patrick. You're the one who works with him. Get your story straight before retelling it. Two people of a three-person company should be be communicating better.

[genjix]

bitcoinBull, OK, take it up with Patrick. I'm just retelling a story.

No, you take it up with Patrick. You're the one who works with him. Get your story straight before retelling it. Two people of a three-person company should be be communicating better.

I did. I told you what I know happened. You said no. I said OK, fine ask Patrick.

[phantomcircuit]

Patrick requested him to be added because he wanted to reset server root passwords. And he did receive several email reset confirmations. Whether the email is his personal email or work email, it shouldn't matter. It's the same email that he use to receive the confirmations and all Bitcoinica sensitive emails.

According to zhou, Patrick's email was added at Patrick's request to reset passwords. I can't believe Bitcoin Consultancy doesn't have their story straight this late in the game, and we are still seeing communication failures among their team.

Why would I need that? I already had the password for rackspace.

Indeed I had recently reset the root password for one of the virtual machines by using that password.

I can understand how this might be slightly confusing so I'll clarify.

There are two password reset mechanisms at rackspace.

One is for the rackspace control panel, this sends you an email with a password reset link, I had no use for this.

The second is for the root password of the virtual machines, this is accessible from the control panel, this is what I had used.

[bitcoinBull]

Patrick requested him to be added because he wanted to reset server root passwords. And he did receive several email reset confirmations. Whether the email is his personal email or work email, it shouldn't matter. It's the same email that he use to receive the confirmations and all Bitcoinica sensitive emails.

According to zhou, Patrick's email was added at Patrick's request to reset passwords. I can't believe Bitcoin Consultancy doesn't have their story straight this late in the game, and we are still seeing communication failures among their team.

Why would I need that? I already had the password for rackspace.

Indeed I had recently reset the root password for one of the virtual machines by using that password.

I can understand how this might be slightly confusing so I'll clarify.

There are two password reset mechanisms at rackspace.

One is for the rackspace control panel, this sends you an email with a password reset link, I had no use for this.

The second is for the root password of the virtual machines, this is accessible from the control panel, this is what I had used.

Thanks for the clarification. And good decision restricting genjix from root access, I also hope there aren't any local privilege-escalation vulnerabilities on machines where he's left SSH keys!

Best of luck with returning deposits, I hope you can accelerate the process soon once the "puzzle" starts coming together.

[Maria]

I am supposed to only give out the status for emails. Accounts are in 3 states:

- Fake. This is a minority of accounts so far we are certain are impostors.
- Accurate. At my last count, this was around 1 in 20 (5%). Only a portion of these has been paid so far. Still working through paying these people back (I don't have access to funds personally. It works like Donald gets a portion and does them in chunks at a time with proper authorisation from Tihan and Patrick).
- Queued. Majority of claims are in the queue waiting to be examined. Around half (a guess) of claims I believed were accurate, and various fakes got pushed back into the "lets examine then later category". Most simply haven't been looked at yet.

The idea is to sort out claims with the highest certainty (this means quicker payouts), then as you work down, you reconcile them with other payments. I know people here are congratulating me, but I've actually been a hindrance for the claims process. Several times, I caused some mix-ups and confusion so Donald hands me batches/tasks to complete at a time.

Genjix, can you please clarify to me under which status does my accounts hold at the moment?

Maria. <3

[Ichthyo]

Having to read this thread is really maddening.

There are some f** retards, who completely dominate the discussion. Those posters write with an attitude of uttermost knowledge and competence, yet their conclusions are at the mental level of a 4 year old. Sorry for being so blatant.


Can someone of those brilliant knowers please elaborate on the following quest, in a precise and comprehensible fashion?


Given you have N bitcoins.
Given you are legally bound to pay them back to other people, who owned them originally.

How the f** can you think it would be possible to turn those N bitcoins magically into N + x bitcoins, just because the bitcoin rate changed meanwhile. Yes, the only way would be to trade and speculate with those bitcoins, which would be an immediate violation of the fact that those bitcoins are owned by other people. Doing so whould be the typical mindset of a scammer, speculator or moral hazard player, not of a business person.

Since there is the threat of legal action, the only sensible thing the Intersango guys can do is to do every thing up to the rules, which means to document every tiny step and to prove every action, thus making it accountable.

So please, can you stop your conspiracy theory kindergarten, yes?

If you want to sue, then please speak to your f** lawyer.
Otherwise just write your sum off, and proceed with other business.
Time will tell the truth, finally, but in meantime, stop wasting the time of all readers of this thread


PS: incidentally, do you know the "axiom of the mythical man month": adding more manpower to an late project makes it yet more late.

[phantomcircuit]

I am supposed to only give out the status for emails. Accounts are in 3 states:

- Fake. This is a minority of accounts so far we are certain are impostors.
- Accurate. At my last count, this was around 1 in 20 (5%). Only a portion of these has been paid so far. Still working through paying these people back (I don't have access to funds personally. It works like Donald gets a portion and does them in chunks at a time with proper authorisation from Tihan and Patrick).
- Queued. Majority of claims are in the queue waiting to be examined. Around half (a guess) of claims I believed were accurate, and various fakes got pushed back into the "lets examine then later category". Most simply haven't been looked at yet.

The idea is to sort out claims with the highest certainty (this means quicker payouts), then as you work down, you reconcile them with other payments. I know people here are congratulating me, but I've actually been a hindrance for the claims process. Several times, I caused some mix-ups and confusion so Donald hands me batches/tasks to complete at a time.

Genjix, can you please clarify to me under which status does my accounts hold at the moment?

Maria. <3

You have no claim.

The online claims process is now closed to new claims.

If you wish to pursue a claim you will need to send a notarized copy of any and all information you have by mail to the registered address as listed by business.govt.nz

[Transisto]

...

Genjix, can you please clarify to me under which status does my accounts hold at the moment?

Maria. <3

You have no claim.

The online claims process is now closed to new claims.

If you wish to pursue a claim you will need to send a notarized copy of any and all information you have by mail to the registered address as listed by business.govt.nz

@Maria , Please keep private talks where they belong.

[naima53]

1. How the f** can you think it would be possible to turn those N bitcoins magically into N + x bitcoins, just because the bitcoin rate changed meanwhile.
2.Yes, the only way would be to trade and speculate with those bitcoins, which would be an immediate violation of the fact that those bitcoins are owned by other people.
3.Doing so whould be the typical mindset of a scammer, speculator or moral hazard player, not of a business person.

1. NO ! Many people have large balance of USD! Ask them how much the balance of dollars in respect of the balance of coins - they don't answer.
2. I think they already do (and always did before), they were Bucket shop
2b. Lawsuit? don't make me laugh! The consciousness of four years children.
3. This is a war between two sharpers. At stake is the reputation of being one of them. I'm on the side of Bitcoinica. Excuse me, but I always knew it, and I will continue to use the site (if it ever will be launched again. They have the reputation is to provide easy money. It is a valuable product, brand, there's a battle for the preservation of the brand.)
3b You're just angry at me because I sold 2 days ago   (advance notice to all)

P\S I would prefer not to withdraw money, and leave her there, if the site will be launched again. To continue to increase capital. But it seems that they are not going to start the service again, very sad.

[kokjo]

I am supposed to only give out the status for emails. Accounts are in 3 states:

- Fake. This is a minority of accounts so far we are certain are impostors.
- Accurate. At my last count, this was around 1 in 20 (5%). Only a portion of these has been paid so far. Still working through paying these people back (I don't have access to funds personally. It works like Donald gets a portion and does them in chunks at a time with proper authorisation from Tihan and Patrick).
- Queued. Majority of claims are in the queue waiting to be examined. Around half (a guess) of claims I believed were accurate, and various fakes got pushed back into the "lets examine then later category". Most simply haven't been looked at yet.

The idea is to sort out claims with the highest certainty (this means quicker payouts), then as you work down, you reconcile them with other payments. I know people here are congratulating me, but I've actually been a hindrance for the claims process. Several times, I caused some mix-ups and confusion so Donald hands me batches/tasks to complete at a time.

Genjix, can you please clarify to me under which status does my accounts hold at the moment?

Maria. <3

You have no claim.

The online claims process is now closed to new claims.

If you wish to pursue a claim you will need to send a notarized copy of any and all information you have by mail to the registered address as listed by business.govt.nz

@Maria:
You just got owned bitch!
btw. when will i see my 5 btc?

[Maria]

I am supposed to only give out the status for emails. Accounts are in 3 states:

- Fake. This is a minority of accounts so far we are certain are impostors.
- Accurate. At my last count, this was around 1 in 20 (5%). Only a portion of these has been paid so far. Still working through paying these people back (I don't have access to funds personally. It works like Donald gets a portion and does them in chunks at a time with proper authorisation from Tihan and Patrick).
- Queued. Majority of claims are in the queue waiting to be examined. Around half (a guess) of claims I believed were accurate, and various fakes got pushed back into the "lets examine then later category". Most simply haven't been looked at yet.

The idea is to sort out claims with the highest certainty (this means quicker payouts), then as you work down, you reconcile them with other payments. I know people here are congratulating me, but I've actually been a hindrance for the claims process. Several times, I caused some mix-ups and confusion so Donald hands me batches/tasks to complete at a time.

Genjix, can you please clarify to me under which status does my accounts hold at the moment?

Maria. <3

You have no claim.

The online claims process is now closed to new claims.

If you wish to pursue a claim you will need to send a notarized copy of any and all information you have by mail to the registered address as listed by business.govt.nz

I do have a claim, and its a public one. Part of the funds you are holding are for a pending donation list I have including 1000 BTC for the forum. My claim now is aprox. 16500 BTC interest included.

If you have no intention of honoring my claim, please let me know. I have a PLAN B for your type of people.

Maria.

[rjk]

PLAN B

*popcorn*

You have a public claim, but that means nothing. I could step up right here and now, and say that I have 8 sockpuppet accounts that were all signed up with fake data via Tor, and ask for a bunch of money, same as you. Is it valid? No, obviously not, because it cannot be verified. The same applies to your accounts.

[ninjarobot]

I have a PLAN B.

I hope that plan does not involve trolling, but I doubt it.

[disclaimer201]

Why would anyone with over 10000 Bitcoins not be the first person to fill out a claim? I just don't get it. Much too risky. This Maria person just sounds like a Bully.