$350 Million Stolen. Maybe.

blackrock13

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http://www.pcworld.com/article/2101...ite-down-amid-speculation-of-its-closure.html

Mt. Gox exchange goes dark as allegations of $350 million hack swirl


By Tim Hornyak, IDG News ServiceFeb 25, 2014 6:15 AMprint


Trading on major Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox came to a halt on Tuesday and its website was only loading a blank page.

There had been no trading activity on the embattled Japanese exchange for four hours as of 3 p.m. local time, according to Bitcoincharts.com, which tracks prices of bitcoin on various exchanges.

The website www.mtgox.com stopped displaying any content on Tuesday. It’s unclear if user funds on the exchange are secure.

The developments follow a weeks-long suspension of bitcoin withdrawals at Mt. Gox to outside addresses, pushing down bitcoin prices on the exchange, and a small street protest in Tokyo outside the offices of its owner, Tibanne.

Mt. Gox and Tibanne did not respond to requests for information.

Meanwhile, a joint statement issued by Bitcoin industry players lambasted Mt. Gox for its “failings” and lamented a “tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt.Gox.”

“As with any new industry, there are certain bad actors that need to be weeded out, and that is what we are seeing today,” said the statement, signed by the leaders of Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, BTC China, Blockchain and Circle.

“We are confident, however, that strong Bitcoin companies, led by highly competent teams and backed by credible investors, will continue to thrive, and to fulfill the promise that bitcoin offers as the future of payment in the Internet age.”


The players also attempted to calm worries about the security of funds. Coinbase, Kraken, BitStamp, Circle and BTC China will work together to assure the Bitcoin community and the public that funds are secure, they said.

A document posted on Scribd.com, purporting to be an internal “crisis strategy draft” from Mt. Gox, said that 744,408 bitcoins are missing due to “malleability-related theft which went unnoticed for several years.”

It was impossible to verify whether the document is genuine or a hoax.

Mt. Gox had previously said it had suspended bitcoin withdrawals to outside addresses due to a technical issue known as “transaction malleability,” which could allow for fraudulent exploitation of transaction records.

A spokesman for Japan’s Financial Services Agency, which oversees banking, securities and exchange and insurance, said the agency does not have jurisdiction over bitcoin exchanges.

“The fact that Mt. Gox could drag this out so long is despicable.”
Investors in bitcoin were seeing the latest developments as a signal that Mt. Gox is finished.

“Today could be the last day of the Mt. Gox saga,” the Mt. Gox protesters wrote on their online site, which has been the focus of their activity since Tokyo police stopped the street protest in the Shibuya district on Friday.

Commentators on Bitcointalk.org, an online forum, were quick to criticize Mt. Gox.

“The fact that Mt. Gox could drag this out so long is despicable,” one commentator wrote. “They should have immediately halted trading from the moment they disabled withdrawals. The fact that they didn’t only indicates that they were buying up coins on the cheap.”

The moves follow the resignation of Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles from the board of the Bitcoin Foundation, a trading organization.

“The future of the foundation is strong and we enjoy passionate industry participation,” foundation Executive Director Jon Matonis said in an email. “Overall, new director elections will lead us to a more diverse, fully elected board.”

Mt. Gox and CEO Mark Karpeles made the decision to leave the board on their own, Matonis added.

Bitcoin slipped to $418 from a high on Tuesday of $545 on CoinDesk.
 

blackrock13

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http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/bitcoin-goes-bust-major-exchange-silently-goes-down-1228261

The biggest Bitcoin exchange in the world, MtGox, has gone dark with no word on whether the 750,000 bitcoins it was housing are safe or lost or real or what.
The shut-down comes after MtGox spotted some "unusual activity", and stopped all transfers to external addresses earlier this month because it had found a loophole that allowed thieves to dupe the system into doubling the number of bitcoins requested.
People who have bitcoins with the company are still waiting to hear if they've been robbed, if the exchange has collapsed or if it's just a glitch in the matrix.
Bad eggs


Other bitcoin exchanges are concerned that people will take this to mean that digital money is deeply unreliable and should generally be avoided at all costs.
Six of them got together to describe the MtGox situation as a "tragic violation of the trust of users" and keenly point out that it is "the result of one company's actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of Bitcoin and the digital currency industry."
The statement goes on to say that MtGox has "confirmed its issues in private discussions with other members of the Bitcoin community" adding that "certain bad actors... need to be weeded out."
It certainly sounds as though something fishy has gone down, although there's no official confirmation of that yet.
If you're still befuddled by the whole Bitcoin phenomenon, we've broken it down into manageable chunks for you over here. Pay attention: there'll be a test at the end.
 

IM469

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Jul 5, 2012
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So where does one put 744,408 bitcoins ? Since it's software, maybe it's sitting in a secretary's Windows Recycle bin.
 

Adam_hadam

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Feb 26, 2008
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Bitcoin.
People are so stupid to use an alternative currency. Really, do you have a problem with $US? Euros? Pound? or even Cdn$.

Whoever invested in this sham get what they deserve.
boo hoo 2 bad so sad

I'd even buy Dominican pesos before I'd buy a bitcon
 

SkyRider

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Mar 31, 2009
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Bitcoin.
People are so stupid to use an alternative currency. Really, do you have a problem with $US? Euros? Pound? or even Cdn$.

Whoever invested in this sham get what they deserve.
boo hoo 2 bad so sad

I'd even buy Dominican pesos before I'd buy a bitcon
Agree. It's not like it is real money. Easy come, easy go.
P.S. I still have some monopoly money.
 

GameBoy27

Well-known member
Nov 23, 2004
12,709
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Bitcoin.
People are so stupid to use an alternative currency. Really, do you have a problem with $US? Euros? Pound? or even Cdn$.

Whoever invested in this sham get what they deserve.
boo hoo 2 bad so sad

I'd even buy Dominican pesos before I'd buy a bitcon
Hell, if you bought BlackBerry stock in December you could have doubled your money a month later. lol
 

IM469

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Jul 5, 2012
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and "real" money only has value because we believe that it does.. after all, it is just paper... or plastic now
Yes after all look at your savings account - do you think that the bank has a little cubical of cash equal to the digital record that you see ? (see 'bank run' which occurs when people want to see real money for their digital record number). Ditto a plastic card (Visa, MC, Amex, etc) - there are no currency bills involved there.

Bitcoin is a threat to countries and banks because they cannot control it or make money every time it moves (fees, service costs, etc). Once you have your bitcoins and have endured your taxes on earning it - the government can't re-tax you (at least now) when you spend it, ditto the banks who cash in every time you move it. If you have Canadian dollars in your matress, the government can devalue it further by printing more, manipulating it for inflation, etc.

The reason that bitcoin is fluctuating is that it is new but it will probably stabilize if it gains international momentum. I'm not participating but I can understand the unique attraction.
 

SkyRider

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Mar 31, 2009
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I was shocked to learn that Facebook's $19 billion offer to WhatsApp included $4 billion in real money. Usually, the acquirer in these deals pay with "funny money" (i.e. overvalued stock) and/or bitcoin.
 

anon1

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Aug 19, 2001
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Tranquility Base, La Luna
But Bitcoins can and are being manipulated by less accountable individuals than governments and sanctioned banks.
They are just Banksters by another name.
 

IM469

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Jul 5, 2012
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But Bitcoins can and are being manipulated by less accountable individuals than governments and sanctioned banks.
They are just Banksters by another name.
There will be instability at the beginning but the latest wild swings are largely caused by the Chinese who have the power to fuck with everyone's currency. One of the early supporters of bitcoin was a gentleman who supported the concept of e-mail. He pointed out that when he originally suggested the e-mail would replace most business mail communication, he was deemed a nut case.
 
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