• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Bitcoin community in panic as major exchange goes AWOL.

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

criesofthepast

Member
MTGox.com was once the worlds largest exchange. No one has been able to withdraw coins or FIAT for quite a while now which drew rumors they were insolvent. A ton of drama. Lack of updates on their part to the community has caused crazy volatility the past few weeks.

They have just gone dark with the website completely halting trading and now showing just a blank page. Prices now free-falling. Hundreds of millions of dollars worth of coins are now in limbo and may be gone forever. Feel bad for everyone who had money in the exchange. Not sure what recourse there is for them.

Hey, but good buying opportunity now, right?!

Figured it is big enough news to warrant a new thread since the only other Bitcoin thread is buried in community now.

http://www.coindesk.com/mt-gox-trading-halts-bitcoin-businesses-move-assure-investors/
 
B

badcrumble

Member
This wouldn't be a problem if the currency (really, it's more of a speculative commodity than a currency, but let's call it a currency because its biggest fans want it to be that) were backed and regulated by some state entity.
 
B

BlackBuzzard

Banned
Always bet on.

Vzs15Xq.png
 
B

bistromathics

facing a bright new dawn
count me as one that got fucked :(

shoulda kept the coins in my local wallet. been trying to get my money out of gox for a month now (you used to be able to withdraw at least bitcoins, but now nothing without being verified) and my application was finally denied 2 days ago.
 
Z

Zaptruder

Banned
bistromathics said:
count me as one that got fucked :(

shoulda kept the coins in my local wallet. been trying to get my money out of gox for a month now (you used to be able to withdraw at least bitcoins, but now nothing without being verified) and my application was finally denied 2 days ago.
Click to expand...

How much real money and how much paper money did you lose? :p
 
L

Lilalaunebaer

Member
Sucks for the people that had money in there.

But at least this chapter is over and we can go back to business as usual in a few months after the dust settles.
 
B

bistromathics

facing a bright new dawn
Zaptruder said:
How much real money and how much paper money did you lose? :p
Click to expand...

it was the exchange i used to convert my original profits (made 1k on 1k initial) back into dollars. I had since been sending my bitcoin profits out to various other places for various other purposes but started the ball rolling on getting verified to take out cash back in january
 
A

ampere

Member
So they were like a "bank" that some people used for their Bitcoins? And they seems to have attempted to vanish, take the money and run.

Sucks for people who lost money, but that currency is certainly very volatile since it's unregulated.
 
C

Crayons

Banned
Goddamn. I can't imagine what's going through the minds right now of people with money on mtgox. My sincere sympathy.

Going to buy bitcoin now
 
C

Chris R

Member
Anyone doing any kind of business with Gox after the "issue" with transaction malleability was brainless. Saw this coming a mile away.
 
T

Timedog

good credit (by proxy)
Why would they vanish if vanishing makes the value of the bitcoins that they vanished with go straight to hell?
 
S

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
I was so, so, so wrong when I said no one would make any decent money off Bitcoin.

But I was so, so, so right when I said that there was absolutely no definitive security in Bitcoin.

I feel so dumb and so smug at the same time.
 
Y

Yaboosh

Super Sleuth
Timedog said:
Why would they vanish if vanishing makes the value of the bitcoins that they vanished with go straight to hell?
Click to expand...


Because they still get to keep the bitcoins.

Having 700k bitcoins worth $100 each is a whole hell of a lot better than having 0 bitcoins worth $600 each.
 
A

Ace Harding

Member
Do people think someone just ran off in an attempt to steal? What are they running off with? How would that work if by running off they destroyed the value of the currency?
 
C

criesofthepast

Member
Timedog said:
Why would they vanish if vanishing makes the value of the bitcoins that they vanished with go straight to hell?
Click to expand...
There have been some huge sells the past few days on various exchanges anywhere from 1000 to 12,000 coins on one order. There was one yesterday that sold upwards of 12,000 coins at $580 per coin. Well over 6 million.

There is no doubt people had inside knowledge and shady back dealings were going on for someone to sell that much.
 
P

PG2G

Member
So, do you guys expect that this will effectively kill bitcoin? The fact that someone can just walk away with your money is just... LOL
 
B

BraXzy

Member
The downfall of it is the fact you couldn't simply trade Bitcoins easily, and needed to go through a site like MTGox. I never managed to buy any because I didn't understand how to.
 
J

Jaladinozozo

Banned
How easy is it to have your bitcoins converted to USD? Lets say I buy today at 300 and sell tomorrow at 600, whats my time frame of of having the 300 USD minus any fees in my bank account? I am assuming this varies from exchange to exchange but is there an average/standard process.
 
T

tokkun

Member
Ace Harding said:
Do people think someone just ran off in an attempt to steal? What are they running off with? How would that work if by running off they destroyed the value of the currency?
Click to expand...

You are assuming they actually had these people's coins.Gox could have just taken their money, said they had purchased the coins, but not actually done it.
 
P

PetriP-TNT

Member
Buy buy buy! It can only go up from here!

Really bummed that the guys at Magic The Gathering Online Exchange took and ran with worthless FIAT monies, but at least bitcoins arehere to stay
 
C

Cloudy

Banned
Cloudy said:
Since Bitcoin isn't regulated, have these guys even broken any laws?
Click to expand...

Guess not lol

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles...0001424052702304834704579402751676012112.html

Investors with bitcoins tied up at Mt. Gox have flown from as far away as the U.K. to protest outside the exchange's offices. Some investors say they have contacted the Financial Services Agency, Japan's banking watchdog, to ask regulators whether there are any rules protecting Mt. Gox customers, but obtained no clear answers.

Some lawyers and other legal experts say a deposit-taking entity such as Mt. Gox would normally fall under the FSA's jurisdiction. The FSA, however, said it isn't the agency's job to supervise crypto-currency exchanges.

"Bitcoin isn't a currency; it works as an alternative to currencies, like gold," an FSA spokesman said Monday. "The FSA is in charge of currency-based services. Therefore, bitcoin exchanges are not a subject to our regulatory oversight."

Unlike their counterparts in many major economies, including the European Union, China, Russia and the U.S., Japanese authorities have been relatively silent about bitcoin. When asked in December for his view on bitcoin generally, Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda said that he was "very interested." He said the central bank's research arm was looking into the currency, but that he couldn't comment further.

A Bank of Japan spokesman said Friday that the bank "is not in a position" to regulate bitcoin and its exchanges.

The Ministry of Finance said on Monday that it isn't its job to supervise bitcoin and related services. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which is in charge of information technology and related issues, said, "We are not in a position to make any judgments on this matter."
Click to expand...
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

WSJ: China’s Interference on Bitcoin Tests Currency’s Foundation
2
2K
nynt9 replied
Bitcoin prices hit new record high of over $2200 (10/13 Update: peaked at $5,829)
13 14 15 16 17
841
138K
sunofsam replied
Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and You: Navigating the Future of Tech (a NeoGAF discussion thread)
|OT| 49 50 51 52 53
3K
322K
b0uncyfr0 replied
Cryptocurrency |OT| Nothing from Money
129 130 131 132 133
7K
616K
crowbrow replied
  • Locked
The Doomsday Cult of Bitcoin
2 3 4
194
23K
HyperionX replied
Top Bottom