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Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S

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Re: Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S

#11
post #6

Brings up an interesting point: Is it possible and how would you freeze bitcoins owned by a person(or a specific wallet).

The only way, per the system's design, would be a network wide whitelist or blacklist of accounts. Either explicitly permitting (which wouldn't work) or explicitly blocking addresses from participating in transactions. And, if enough computers disregarded it, the transactions would still go into valid blocks. The blacklist/whitelist nodes would have to accept those blocks or you'd end up with a forked blockchain or serious accounting issues because some nodes would disregard certain transactions.

Re: Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S

#12
post #10
post #6

Brings up an interesting point: Is it possible and how would you freeze bitcoins owned by a person(or a specific wallet).

Hm... would it be possible to have a blacklist of bitcoin addresses and get a majority of miners to ignore transactions that involve these addresses?

You could have a blacklist.

You couldn't, as a practical matter, get the miners to agree on a blacklist. A partial attempt would segment the bitcoin protocol and so the miners would just avoid it completely.

Re: Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S

#14
post #2

Article is behind a paywall. Mt. Gox, the struggling Japanese bitcoin exchange, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court to stop customers from freezing any of the company's assets that are located on U.S. soil. Lawyers put MtGox Co. Ltd. into Chapter 15 protection in Texas on Sunday, stating that a potential class-action lawsuit in Illinois could get in the way of reorganization efforts that are taking pl…

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Re: Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S

#15

Any specific reason they would file in Texas?

So a Chapter 15 is an ancillary proceeding to facilitate the bankruptcy of a foreign corporation that is happening in another jurisdiction (in this case, Japan). Venue in a Chapter 15 is appropriate either where the company its principal U.S. assets, or where it is getting sued in the U.S. See: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/28/1410. I believe the only lawsuit right now is in Chicago (NDIL), so presumably they filed in Dallas because they had some assets there (servers, etc)?

Re: Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S

#16
post #2

Article is behind a paywall. Mt. Gox, the struggling Japanese bitcoin exchange, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court to stop customers from freezing any of the company's assets that are located on U.S. soil. Lawyers put MtGox Co. Ltd. into Chapter 15 protection in Texas on Sunday, stating that a potential class-action lawsuit in Illinois could get in the way of reorganization efforts that are taking pl…

That doesn't make it acceptable for you to completely ignore their copyright on that material.

Re: Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S

#17
post #2

Article is behind a paywall. Mt. Gox, the struggling Japanese bitcoin exchange, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court to stop customers from freezing any of the company's assets that are located on U.S. soil. Lawyers put MtGox Co. Ltd. into Chapter 15 protection in Texas on Sunday, stating that a potential class-action lawsuit in Illinois could get in the way of reorganization efforts that are taking pl…

That doesn't make it acceptable for you to completely ignore their copyright on that material.

[deleted]

Re: Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S

#18
post #2

Article is behind a paywall. Mt. Gox, the struggling Japanese bitcoin exchange, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a U.S. court to stop customers from freezing any of the company's assets that are located on U.S. soil. Lawyers put MtGox Co. Ltd. into Chapter 15 protection in Texas on Sunday, stating that a potential class-action lawsuit in Illinois could get in the way of reorganization efforts that are taking pl…

That doesn't make it acceptable for you to completely ignore their copyright on that material.

I agree, it's not the paywall that makes it acceptable.

Re: Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy in U.S

#19
post #6

Brings up an interesting point: Is it possible and how would you freeze bitcoins owned by a person(or a specific wallet).

A court could simply order them frozen, and expect the holder to comply. If the court deems that too dangerous, they would order them transferred to a third party guardian (usually the local sheriff or similar, but they might make a different arrangement for something unusual like bitcoin). Possibly "without notice", if "dissipation" seems likely if the holder knows it's coming.

Pretty much the same as you'd do with cash or other physical assets.

(Transfer is necessary; seizing the private key isn't secure against copies. The FBI is known to have moved the Silk Road money to their own wallet: http://blockchain.info/address/1F1tAaz5x1HUXrCNLbtMDqcw6o5GN... )

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