MtGox.com is offline • Hacker News Board

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#131

Post by streetnigga » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:43 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #106

bdc wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, at some point between $0 and $400,000,000[1], negligence is no longer an acceptable excuse. [1] The current market value of the claimed 700k BTC loss in USD.

Oh please. Saying that bitcoins are worth $400MM is like saying that a collection of "limited edition" Beanie Babies is worth $400MM.

So very true if you have to peg that 400mm to a specific exchange rate for another currency.

You can ascertain the value of 1 BTC in your favored currency rather easily given a choice of marketplaces. Less so with 100, or 10000+. Most market-places couldn't handle the volume without a substantial shift in price before your 400mm mark was hit for say, USD.

That said BTC seems to want to reach the type of ubiquity that allowed USD to be a universal currency of sorts during it's heyday. With means to convert in and out being varied from the strictly regulated to the strictly unregulated.

Now let's see how long the blockchain can live.

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#132

Post by efuquen » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:43 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #106

bdc wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, at some point between $0 and $400,000,000[1], negligence is no longer an acceptable excuse. [1] The current market value of the claimed 700k BTC loss in USD.

Oh please. Saying that bitcoins are worth $400MM is like saying that a collection of "limited edition" Beanie Babies is worth $400MM.

Well, considering the price has been pretty stably above the current point (not stable in general but definitely above this point for months), I think it's safe to say if you had that Bitcoin you lost a potential opportunity to have made a lot more money. The worth is simply what people have been willing to buy at, and that price has recently been quite high.

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#133

Post by flycaliguy » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:43 AM UTC

My understanding is that if a majority of the miners agree, certain reversals can be made to the Bitcoin economy. Is this a situation which would benefit from such a reversal?

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#134

Post by jellicle » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:44 AM UTC

jmomo wrote: post #81

guelo wrote: post #36

Pretty good Ponzi. Not as impressive as Bernie Maddof's, but extra points for the tech angle.

I am not aware of any indication that this was a ponzi scheme. Saying that it was, without evidence, is misinformation. The loss of coins was unintentional on the behalf of MtGox. It may have been stupid that basic abc123 auditing would have probably revealed that there was a problem months/years ago, but evil has not been shown at this point in time.

> The loss of coins was unintentional on the behalf of MtGox.

Your evidence of that is...

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#135

Post by blazespin » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:44 AM UTC

kyrra wrote: post #105

citricsquid wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of years ago a server management application called HyperVM had a 0day due to some questionable programming, hundreds of thousands of websites were lost along with a lot of money... the next day the creator took his own life. A lot of people are going to be in a very bad position right now (both customers and people inside mtgox), let's hope it doesn't come to that.

According to this[0] the HyperVM guy may have had a family history of suicide. [0] http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/security/25559-hyperv...

oh, well, that's alright then.

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#136

Post by AJ007 » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:44 AM UTC

jmomo wrote: post #81

guelo wrote: post #36

Pretty good Ponzi. Not as impressive as Bernie Maddof's, but extra points for the tech angle.

I am not aware of any indication that this was a ponzi scheme. Saying that it was, without evidence, is misinformation. The loss of coins was unintentional on the behalf of MtGox. It may have been stupid that basic abc123 auditing would have probably revealed that there was a problem months/years ago, but evil has not been shown at this point in time.

If they continued to take in deposits after they knew they were insolvent, it was a ponzi scheme.

Every ponzi operator dreams of earning themselves to solvency.

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#137

Post by Gracana » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:45 AM UTC

They still have my 6 BTC. Oh well, it didn't really cost me anything to get those coins, and it taught me a valuable lesson about trusting a system with no customer protections.

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#138

Post by AJ007 » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:45 AM UTC

fragsworth wrote: post #111

colinbartlett wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a reason the SEC mandates you be an "accredited" investor with at least $200k income in the last 2 years or $1M in assets, excluding your house. How many customers ("investors") would Mt. Gox have if that same regulation was applied to them?

This is totally different from an accredited investment. People using Mt.Gox were not investing in Mt.Gox, they were investing in USD and BTC, and allowing Mt.Gox to hold it for them.

Correction, they were allowing Mt.Gox to claim they were holding it.

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#139

Post by haberman » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:45 AM UTC

panarky wrote: post #122

haberman wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, if I have any schadenfreude here it's not for him. It's for all of the people who smugly told us for years that Bitcoin is superior to our "legacy" fiat managed and regulated monetary system system in every way, and anyone who can't see that is an idiot.

Don't equate Bitcoin the protocol with dodgy websites. Unlike cash, radical transparency is entirely possible with Bitcoin. Bitcoin the protocol is as strong as ever, but customers of other sites should demand proof that their exchanges and online wallets actually control 100% of the BTC they claim to have in their custody.

Yes, I think my schadenfreude is for you.

Re: MtGox.com is offline

#140

Post by napoleond » Tue, Feb 25, 2014, 4:46 AM UTC

kyrra wrote: post #105

citricsquid wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A couple of years ago a server management application called HyperVM had a 0day due to some questionable programming, hundreds of thousands of websites were lost along with a lot of money... the next day the creator took his own life. A lot of people are going to be in a very bad position right now (both customers and people inside mtgox), let's hope it doesn't come to that.

According to this[0] the HyperVM guy may have had a family history of suicide. [0] http://www.itwire.com/business-it-news/security/25559-hyperv...

I'm having trouble understanding what you think the relevance of that might be. Obviously, when someone commits suicide, that decision ultimately rests on their shoulders and is borne of their experience/history/state/what-have-you. GP was trying to make a broader point about the difference in levels of significance between a catastrophic business fuck-up and the wasting of human life, a conflation that people without family histories of suicide make all the time.