Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider • Hacker News Board

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#111

Post by downandout » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:16 AM UTC

xwdv wrote: post #104

downandout wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I originally started my HN account to ask what I should do when my cofounder screwed me out of $12.8 million I was owed as the result of the sale of our company that he forced me out of and sold without telling me. My username came from that era of my life. I cannot even begin to describe how different my life would be had my cofounder not done this. It is unlikely that I will ever again create something that valuabl…

I really don't get how someone can casually screw someone out of such vast sums of money and not live in fear watching their back the rest of their life. They must really be confident the individual would remain mentally stable. Not everyone will just walk away quietly and meditate, some people will definitely try to find the best way to put a bullet in your head. If you're going to screw someone, you should at least…

I was very angry at first, but yes, he knew that I was not the type of person that would put a bullet in his head. He didn’t do anything to shift blame - he couldn’t. My name was all over the patents the company held, so he couldn’t deny my participation. He simply stopped talking to me and then used his lawyers to attempt to silence me.

Unfortunately, karma just is not a thing. Among more than a dozen homes he owns are two mansions in California, each over 10k sq ft (at least one of which was paid for with my money), within about 10 minutes of each other. One is on a bluff overlooking the ocean, and the other is more inland where he rides horses with his wife, who is roughly half his age and who was married to someone else until it became obvious to her then-husband that she was pregnant with my business partner’s child. Ironically, among his other business ventures today is a Christian magazine/movie production company.

I will never see justice served upon him. He will continue to live a fabulous life and I, quite likely, won’t. But being angry over it does nothing for me.

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#112

Post by Volundr » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:16 AM UTC

AgentME wrote: post #84

School-Cotton wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low volatility is a pretty important metric for stores of value. By that metric almost anything other than GME shares is better than cryptocurrency: cash in any hard currency, gold, silver, luxury watches, ...

There are decentralized cryptocurrencies that have achieved low volatility, such as DAI. I don't think it's ever gotten more than a couple percent from its $1 target price since being created. (I assume it almost never gets talked about because there's no profit from investing in it and hyping it to others.)

DAI is tied directly to the dollar. In what way is it better than a simple bank account for storing value?

The idea behind gold, silver, property, etc as value stores is that they remain valuable regardless of what the currency does. If your value store is the currency itself you might as well just hold the currency.

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#113

Post by jjoonathan » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:17 AM UTC

MagicalTux wrote: post #95

modeless wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For those who don't know, MagicalTux is Mark Karpeles, owner and CEO of Mt Gox. Assuming this is his real account. And for what it's worth, I agree that this is a bad article based on what I know about the situation. Bloomberg reporting in general is questionable these days if you ask me. I don't trust them since the false Supermicro hack story (never retracted BTW) and I've seen several other bad stories from them s…

Yep this is indeed me. This article would clearly have its place on PRNewsWire rather than Bloomberg.

Doesn't Bloomberg have a reputation as being shamelessly pay-for-play?

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#114

Post by downandout » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:21 AM UTC

axiosgunnar wrote: post #106

downandout wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I originally started my HN account to ask what I should do when my cofounder screwed me out of $12.8 million I was owed as the result of the sale of our company that he forced me out of and sold without telling me. My username came from that era of my life. I cannot even begin to describe how different my life would be had my cofounder not done this. It is unlikely that I will ever again create something that valuabl…

Why do you believe you will never be able to start another project worth millions? If you did it once, you can do it again. You are even starting out ahead as you can impress investors with your past project!

I have been trying ever since this happened, and so far have only had marginal success. You never know, I suppose, but that project sold for $64 million to a multibillion dollar company (Equifax). It is statistically unlikely that I will ever create something that valuable again. I am now in the DeFi space, doing some interesting things, so there is a possibility - but life has taught me not to hold my breath.

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#115

Post by technion » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:24 AM UTC

modeless wrote: post #49

MagicalTux wrote: post #35

Being directly involved in this I'm not going to comment as of the veracity of the article myself, but rather point to a response of when this was posted on twitter (look at the extra responses for some fact checking): https://twitter.com/wizsecurity/status/1355973512012292096

For those who don't know, MagicalTux is Mark Karpeles, owner and CEO of Mt Gox. Assuming this is his real account. And for what it's worth, I agree that this is a bad article based on what I know about the situation. Bloomberg reporting in general is questionable these days if you ask me. I don't trust them since the false Supermicro hack story (never retracted BTW) and I've seen several other bad stories from them s…

To this very day, the majority of non technical executives having a security conversation raise with me "so we're definitely not using Supermicro right" as their top security concern. It's incredible how much that story managed to achieve.

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#116

Post by MagicalTux » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:25 AM UTC

gggydf32 wrote: post #103

MagicalTux wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or maybe suing for libel brings a lot of attention so unless it's very bad most companies will opt not to sue, especially if the target is a major news organization.

Er, Supermicro servers being surreptitiously implanted and installed in customer networks are existentially-threatening allegations against their business. I struggle to imagine what “very bad” would be in your view if that doesn’t rise to the bar.

More than the contents, the impact of the news on business is what would be used to decide. If most people think the news is likely fake there's no point giving extra attention to it by suing for libel. If it has enough impact to bring the company toward bankruptcy it will be an issue. Tbqh I wasn't even aware of that story until now.

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#117

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:34 AM UTC

MagicalTux wrote: post #116

gggydf32 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Er, Supermicro servers being surreptitiously implanted and installed in customer networks are existentially-threatening allegations against their business. I struggle to imagine what “very bad” would be in your view if that doesn’t rise to the bar.

More than the contents, the impact of the news on business is what would be used to decide. If most people think the news is likely fake there's no point giving extra attention to it by suing for libel. If it has enough impact to bring the company toward bankruptcy it will be an issue. Tbqh I wasn't even aware of that story until now.

[deleted]

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#118

Post by rfd4sgmk8u » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:35 AM UTC

poi412 wrote: post #110

rasengan wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. Those who fell at the beginning are those who paved the way. Mark is a hero. Nothing less.

Is this coordinated image rehabilitation or something? You authoritatively confirmed that the account is who it says it is as your first involvement in this thread. Was that based on firsthand knowledge? I’m really suspicious about your involvement here and I’m starting to suspect someone figured out just how easily HN can be leveraged if the commentary remains civil and lionizes the right people late on a Friday nig…

Please assume good faith. I do not believe there is a image rehabilitation campaign, nor are nefarious forces trying to sway public opinion late Friday night. Don't waste too many brain cycles chasing ghosts. We all are just people trying to get by in life.

There is no conspiracy here :-)

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#119

Post by dzhiurgis » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:37 AM UTC

axiosgunnar wrote: post #105

zoba wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mark, the security errors in Mt Gox cost me sums of money that would have completely changed the life of myself and my family. Mostly I have moved on from this, but occasionally I multiply my Mt Gox holdings by the current price of Bitcoin and imagine how life could be. I have never heard you express sorrow for the individuals whose lives you so negatively impacted. I have no idea if you have plans to make amends for…

> occasionally I multiply my Mt Gox holdings by the current price of Bitcoin and imagine how life could be I often have flashbacks to that one tweet I saw many many years ago saying „Bitcoin reaches USD parity“. I was considering investing a thousand bucks at that time, just for fun. I would be 37 million dollars rich today! Who am I kidding. What would have actually happened is I would have sold everything once my m…

Cryptopia was hacked a year or two ago. I had a diversified portfolio if shitcoins, but no idea which.

They starting the legal process soon so I might be millionaire soon

Re: Mt. Gox demise as told by a Bitcoin insider

#120

Post by poi412 » Sat, Feb 06, 2021, 5:42 AM UTC

rfd4sgmk8u wrote: post #118

poi412 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this coordinated image rehabilitation or something? You authoritatively confirmed that the account is who it says it is as your first involvement in this thread. Was that based on firsthand knowledge? I’m really suspicious about your involvement here and I’m starting to suspect someone figured out just how easily HN can be leveraged if the commentary remains civil and lionizes the right people late on a Friday nig…

Please assume good faith. I do not believe there is a image rehabilitation campaign, nor are nefarious forces trying to sway public opinion late Friday night. Don't waste too many brain cycles chasing ghosts. We all are just people trying to get by in life. There is no conspiracy here :-)

That eased all my concerns. Thank you. I feel better.