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Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

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Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#31

Post by coldtea »

gojomo wrote: post #8

There's plenty to warrant suspicion, but it turns out there is a credible explanation for the seize-up in BTC payouts being a technical problem that will take some time to resolve: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1x93tf/some_irc_cha... This analysis describes a Bitcoin transactional defect of which I wasn't previously aware. However, from a vaguely-similar much-smaller incident involving the default client,…

>There's plenty to warrant suspicion, but it turns out there is a credible explanation for the seize-up in BTC payouts being a technical problem that will take some time to resolve

Would you be as OK with your bank holding money like that?

Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#32

Post by coldtea »

smtddr wrote: post #23
sillysaurus2 wrote: post #9

This is FUD. As incredible as it seems, MtGox's problems are, in fact, technical. And it was quite a relief to realize this. Also, there is minimal danger of a bank run. MtGox makes a profit off of every transaction. Therefore they control more BTC than users are able to deposit. Hence, since Magical Tux (the owner) is motivated not to go to jail, he will not run off with people's BTC. For anyone who wants the truth,…

I don't know what will happen to MtGox, but you sound just like the SheepMarketPlace defenders when they kept coming up with all kinds of ways to downplay all the events leading up to SMP's disappearing act. I don't know how you're so sure they won't fall into oblivion. They've been a big mess for months. Anyone else reading this who's new to crypto-coins, at the _minimum_ I do not recommend you send any of your coin…

When there's some "gold rush" mentality involved, logic goes out of the window.

Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#33

Post by nwh »

foobarqux wrote: post #26
sillysaurus2 wrote: post #9

This is FUD. As incredible as it seems, MtGox's problems are, in fact, technical. And it was quite a relief to realize this. Also, there is minimal danger of a bank run. MtGox makes a profit off of every transaction. Therefore they control more BTC than users are able to deposit. Hence, since Magical Tux (the owner) is motivated not to go to jail, he will not run off with people's BTC. For anyone who wants the truth,…

How did MtGox get freshly-minted coins if they can't be transferred?

Eligius / p2pool payouts directly to Gox's wallet.

Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#34

Post by gojomo »

coldtea wrote: post #31
gojomo wrote: post #8

There's plenty to warrant suspicion, but it turns out there is a credible explanation for the seize-up in BTC payouts being a technical problem that will take some time to resolve: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1x93tf/some_irc_cha... This analysis describes a Bitcoin transactional defect of which I wasn't previously aware. However, from a vaguely-similar much-smaller incident involving the default client,…

> There's plenty to warrant suspicion, but it turns out there is a credible explanation for the seize-up in BTC payouts being a technical problem that will take some time to resolve Would you be as OK with your bank holding money like that?

Who said they were "OK" with anything? It's just information for understanding the situation.

I'm unhappy when ATM outages or erroneous fraud alerts prevent me from using my cash or credit, but I understand that such situations are different from dishonesty or insolvency.

Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#35

Post by Tenoke »

I can't really feel sorry for anyone who is having troubles with Mt Gox. People have known for ages now that Mt Gox is unreliable and they kept using it to take advantage of the higher prices which come with the higher risk. Hell, If anything, they are the problem since things would've likely been better right now if more people had moved away from Gox from before instead of waiting for the ship to start sinking.

Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#36

Post by gaius »

shiftpgdn wrote: post #20
gaius wrote: post #5

Because it's Magic the Gathering Online eXchange.

Wow what an insightful comment I'm glad you made your way to this thread.

Thanks. It's a complete mystery why people think that a website set up to trade playing cards can act like a bank. And completely unsurprising that it finds itself embroiled in all these hilarious situations.

Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#37

Post by coldtea »

gojomo wrote: post #34
coldtea wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's plenty to warrant suspicion, but it turns out there is a credible explanation for the seize-up in BTC payouts being a technical problem that will take some time to resolve Would you be as OK with your bank holding money like that?

Who said they were "OK" with anything? It's just information for understanding the situation. I'm unhappy when ATM outages or erroneous fraud alerts prevent me from using my cash or credit, but I understand that such situations are different from dishonesty or insolvency.

>Who said they were "OK" with anything?

The casual tone by which people (including you) were discussing this. If a bank had even week long issues like that people would be frothing at the mouths (and rightly so).

>It's just information for understanding the situation.

Yes, it's the "understanding" part that I don't get (except if it's pure technical curiosity, but from the excuses people make in this thread it doesn't seem so).

They messed up, they are not a worthy exchange, that kind of fiasco is insurmountable -- end of story. I wouldn't try to "understand" a restaurant that served my cochroaches in my pizza, I'd just avoid it and bad mouth it to everybody I know.

Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#38

Post by username223 »

jrockway wrote: post #18
XorNot wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not a technical problem. The problem is Mt. Gox is almost certainly doing arbitrage with the cash on hand, and the BTC on hand. The delays with withdrawals were almost certainly because they needed to liquefy some instruments to pay out. Of course seeing their origins and backing, they've screwed up - and BTC being volatile it has probably moved against them - so low and behold "technical problem" while they try…

The delays with withdrawals were almost certainly because they needed to liquefy some instruments to pay out. I would guess this is a fraud-stopping measure. Time is a fraudster's enemy; you may have guessed someone's password, but if they read the email that says someone changed their email address, they can react before the money disappears into the ether. Furthermore, Mt. Gox can probably predict in advance how mu…

> Time is a fraudster's enemy;

If I agree to hold your money, then "need more time" to give it back to you, how exactly is time being my enemy?

Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#39

Post by username223 »

smtddr wrote: post #23
sillysaurus2 wrote: post #9

This is FUD. As incredible as it seems, MtGox's problems are, in fact, technical. And it was quite a relief to realize this. Also, there is minimal danger of a bank run. MtGox makes a profit off of every transaction. Therefore they control more BTC than users are able to deposit. Hence, since Magical Tux (the owner) is motivated not to go to jail, he will not run off with people's BTC. For anyone who wants the truth,…

I don't know what will happen to MtGox, but you sound just like the SheepMarketPlace defenders when they kept coming up with all kinds of ways to downplay all the events leading up to SMP's disappearing act. I don't know how you're so sure they won't fall into oblivion. They've been a big mess for months. Anyone else reading this who's new to crypto-coins, at the _minimum_ I do not recommend you send any of your coin…

For anyone new to crypto-coins, "fiat" is a derogatory term for "cash money," not a small European car.

Re: Why Mt. Gox, the World’s First Bitcoin Exchange, is Dying

#40

Post by mkr-hn »

gaius wrote: post #36
shiftpgdn wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow what an insightful comment I'm glad you made your way to this thread.

Thanks. It's a complete mystery why people think that a website set up to trade playing cards can act like a bank. And completely unsurprising that it finds itself embroiled in all these hilarious situations.

Just because software is weird and niche doesn't mean it's poorly engineered.
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