World's largest bitcoin exchange seems to have shut down

[dlevere]

Posted by empath

Mt Gox, what had been the world's largest bitcoin exchange, seems to have shut down.

According to a supposedly leaked document, they're missing 744,000 bitcoins, which even at Bitcoin's current, rapidly falling price, would be worth somewhere around 300 million dollars.

A collection of bitcoin businesses and markets have issued a statement.

You can watch the markets panic in real time here.

[olala]

, just hope this coolest service may back to tha track again, someday heh.
Dood

[dlevere]

Mt Gox Shuts Down as Customers Lose Faith in Exchange

By Adam Gauntlett

Mt Gox's customers feel it'll be easier to get US$ out than Bitcoins, if the exchange crashes.

Update 2: The CEO of Mt Gox, Mark Karpales, has said the bitcoin exchange is working hard to resolve its issues, and asks that his staff not be contacted for information. Further updates, Karpales promises, will be published via the Mt Gox site.

"As there is a lot of speculation regarding Mt Gox and its future, I would like to use this opportunity to reassure everyone that I am still in Japan," says Karpales, "and working very hard with the support of different parties to find a solution to our recent issues."

Source: Guardian

Update: While not confirmed yet, early reports indicate that Mt Gox has shut down, probably for good. The site no longer exists, and neither does Mt Gox's Twitter account. A joint statement from other bitcoin providers says:

This tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt.Gox was the result of one company's actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of bitcoin and the digital currency industry. There are hundreds of trustworthy and responsible companies involved in bitcoin. These companies will continue to build the future of money by making bitcoin more secure and easy to use for consumers and merchants. As with any new industry, there are certain bad actors that need to be weeded out, and that is what we are seeing today.

Source: Ars Technica

Original Story: When Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox announced that, due to DDoS attacks, trade was suspended, Mt Gox's customers began to worry. Would the exchange collapse? If it did, what would happen to its Bitcoin reserves? So Mt Gox's customers have been selling off the contents of their Bitcoin wallets, reasoning that, even if they can't get the cash right away, it will be easier to reclaim US$ from Mt Gox's wreckage than it will be to get Bitcoins back.

Mt Gox's coin value is currently at a high of $308.49 per, and a low of $248.14. Meanwhile Bitstamp is trading at $623.68 at time of writing, while Bulgaria's BTC-E is comfortably in the $603 to $617 range. In other words, it's about 50% cheaper to buy cryptocurrency at Mt Gox right now, though of course the trade itself is still subject to Mt Gox's ongoing freeze.

It's all about bankruptcy, in the end. If the worst befalls, it's up to the courts to decide what happens next. Imagine trying to persuade a judge, whose grasp of technical issues may be shaky, the value of a cryptocurrency. The value of a US$ debt is a much more quantifiable proposition. Of course, Mt Gox might not go under; but its customers can't be sure.

Mt Gox promises its customers it will have a workaround soon, and when that happens wallet withdrawals will be permitted. "Thank you again for your support, and we look forward to resume Bitcoin withdrawals as quickly as possible."

Source: Wired

[Pyriel]

From the "You (Probably) Can't Make This Shit Up" Department: Thanks to the recent publicity, a couple of reporters evidently got it in their heads to find the real "Satoshi Nakamoto", who originated the Bitcoin protocol and wrote the first proof-of-concept software. Bitcoin enthusiasts treat him as a mysterious prophet, referring to him reverentially as if waiting for his second coming, and they have been speculating on his identity since 2009. He may have been a Japanese man living in Britain, or thirty people all using the same pseudonym. It turns out that "Satoshi Nakamoto" is actually, and you'll never believe this, Satoshi Nakamoto, a sixty-something programmer from California, who may have created the Bitcoin protocol as a way to make it cheaper to purchase model trains from foreign countries.

Original Newsweek story (possibly pay-walled): http://mag.newsweek.com/2014/03/14/b...-nakamoto.html
Slate coverage: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_te...or_in_los.html
Opinion piece from a lady who's kind of a wonky, on-again, off-again shill for bitcoin: http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirh...nt-journalism/. Note that any time you see "sites" in a Forbes URL, you're reading a blog, and not the work of an actual Forbes reporter.

I don't know if this is all for real, but holy hell, I hope it is.

[dlevere]

It's now behind a paywall...

You have reached the limit of 5 free articles a month

[Pyriel]

Yeah, sorry about that. Unfortunately, it's Newsweek's reporting, so it'll take time for all the details of it to slowly trickle from other outlets. I added a couple of other links, for what they're worth, but if you're interested and under the threshold for Newsweek, it'd definitely worth a read.

The opinion piece I linked leaves out that there's a sect of Bitcoiners who seem to be denying the physical Nakamoto because he isn't sufficiently impressive. It's got to be something of a let down, since a lot of them were expecting a combination of Steve Jobs and Jesus, who went anonymous for revolutionary purposes or to spend his 40 days in the desert. Instead, it looks like he's just a regular Joe who's a little shy to begin with, and became more so after his creature started growing beyond his control.

Edit: Nakamoto now claims he was misunderstood by the Newsweek reporter, and that he hadn't even heard of Bitcoin until three weeks ago: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...03-06-19-35-06

[dlevere]

It's strange enough to be him. Check this out...

Top Bitcoin Exchange Exec Dies

Update (Mar 6, 1pm): Police has classified this as a case of unnatural death. No foul play is suspected, and toxicology test results are pending. More details about her death have been added.

Update (Feb 27, 3pm): Article edited to emphasize that investigations are ongoing. While suicide has been suggested, it is not a certainty.


The startup community has lost one of its own. Autumn Radtke, CEO of First Meta, a Singapore-based virtual currency trading platform that allows users to sell bitcoin, has died on February 26, Tech in Asia has learned. She was 28 years old.

Radtke was found lying motionless at the second-level parapet of an apartment block at Cantonment Close at 7 A.M. She was declared dead on scene by paramedics.

Circumstances surrounding the death is unclear. The Police have classified this as a case of unnatural death, which can be caused by an accident, misadventure, or suicide. Preliminary investigations indicated no foul play, but toxicology test results are pending.

According to Reuters, the American was struggling with personal and professional issues, one of which was the fact that First Meta had not gained traction as hoped.

Friends and colleagues that Reuters spoke to could not agree on whether the collapse of bitcoin exchange Mt Gox had anything to do with her death. While a friend stated that Radtke had substantial exposure to the price fluctuations of the digital currency, another colleague stated that bitcoin did not come up in conversations prior to her death.

Before joining First Meta, Radtke was a director of business development at XFire, a company that connected gamers through communication tools. Prior to that, she was the co-founder of Geodelic, a California-based startup that provided location-based services on smartphones.

First Meta has issued the following statement:

“The First Meta team is shocked and saddened by the tragic loss of our friend and CEO Autumn Radtke. Our deepest condolences go out to her family, friends and loved ones. Autumn was an inspiration to all of us and she will be sorely missed.”

News of her death has spread onto Twitter and Facebook, with friends and acquaintances expressing shock.

Stunned by the news that entrepreneur and all around beautiful person, autumn radtke, committed suicide. Doesn't make any sense.

— Josh Felser (@Joshmedia) February 26, 2014

Why? Just… god…. So sorry for the family and friends of Autumn Radtke. So awful.

— Chris Tacy (@cbtacy) February 26, 2014

(Editing by Willis Wee)

Source

[OldSchoolGamer]

I do not advise anyone to invest in Bitcoin.

[olala]

yae i second that advice, so anydood wanna invest chocolate plate?
dood

[Pyriel]

I don't know why anyone would be looking for investment ideas on this forum anyway, but, yeah, I'm with you.

They like to claim the market is worth billions of dollars, but that's just based on the highest ask or sell price from the exchanges at the moment, times the number of mined coins. Something like 60% of the coins have never moved from the accounts they were "mined" to, i.e., they've never been spent or traded. Some of them could have been traded as whole accounts, off the books, but that's probably a minority. So only about 40% of coins can be considered circulating. The rest may be dead, in accounts with lost keys, etc. And there's no way of actually cashing out any significant number of coins for the maximum price without immediately tanking the price because the trading volume is tiny. So it's not a wise investment.

Edit: Well, if you're already rich, you can do in-person exchanges off the books, maybe. The Winklevoss (?) twins, and a few other people may be willing to acquire your 10,000 coins for half the current ask price or something. That's just the "A Sucker Is Born Every Minute" rule, though. If I'm looking for a short-term investment, I'd rather getting out of it not be contingent on finding someone with deep pockets to buy me out, who I'll probably have to deal with in person to avoid getting scammed.

For comedy value, of the circulating coins, about 10%-15% have been stolen. Some of them have been seized by governments. Since Bitcoin was designed to be deflationary, and only 21 million coins will ever exist, every coin taken out of circulation is a bit of a blow to the economy. It's supposed to be infinitely divisible, but can you imagine working in a system where your operating units are actually 10^-16 of what's left after almost every bit of every coin has been stolen and abandoned, seized, lost when the owner died, and on and on?

The story on Satoshi seems to be getting even more ludicrous. I didn't know that Newsweek has plans to relaunch their print edition, and the "scoop" on Satoshi is their first cover story. The information in the article was pretty circumstantial, and the reporter's attempts to strengthen the case have been pretty weak so far. It's starting to look like they might have gotten a bit ahead of themselves. So either Satoshi really is kind of a run-of-the-mill, old hobbyist, or Newsweek is going back to print embroiled in a scandal of shoddy and false reporting.

[OldSchoolGamer]

yae i second that advice, so anydood wanna invest chocolate plate?
dood

You've mentioned "chocolate plate" several times in our discussions together... I don't understand what that means? To translate might be difficult from your language to English, so could you please post a link of what "chocolate plate" is? thanks. All I can think of is that you might mean investing in Chocolate in the stock market: EXAMPLE

[olala]

its kind of plate, but not tha real one:P, you can eat that, its delicious realyho, yummye choco
somesnap--->
dood
{quote]All I can think of is that you might mean investing in Chocolate in the stock market: EXAMPLE[/quote]
nah dood, im just have smally bussines, mi bussiness not realy monster yet:P
dood

[OldSchoolGamer]

lol, ohh, so you literally meant chocolate plate. lol. Do you sell those or something? That does look mighty tasty. :yum:

[olala]

lol, ohh, so you literally meant chocolate plate. lol. Do you sell those or something?

yae somewut likely anythin you can eat dood

That does look mighty tasty. :yum:

thancou nvn
dood

[dlevere]

Dorian Nakamoto, fingered as Bitcoin creator, wants to sue Newsweek

Nakamoto's retraction request was ignored; today he struggles with "basic needs."

By Joe Mullin


Ethan Kirschner

In March, Newsweek came roaring back to the print world with a tech-themed cover story. The publication said it had discovered "the face behind Bitcoin"—an unemployed engineer living an unassuming life in a Los Angeles suburb.

Within days of publication, critics began pointing out that the magazine's case that Dorian Nakamoto was actually Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto was based on circumstantial evidence.

The 65-year-old Dorian Nakamoto, who has no background in cryptography at all, denied the story after it was published. Newsweek and author Leah McGrath Goodman did not apologize and instead doubled down on their thesis, putting out a statement that "the facts as reported point toward Mr. Nakamoto's role in the founding of Bitcoin."

Now, Nakamoto and his lawyer Ethan Kirschner have made clear they'd like to sue Newsweek over the story — but they need more money to do it. The two have created a website called "Newsweek Lied," which lays out their grievances and features a photo of Dorian Nakamoto holding a sign saying "Newsweek's article hurt my family."

"Newsweek terrorized Mr. Nakamoto," Kirschner told Ars. "Goodman showed up at his house, scared his elderly mother, obtained his e-mail address by deception, and misquoted or invented quotes from both him and his brothers. They published his health, financial, and employment history recklessly. They need to account for what they did."

Many attorneys will take plaintiffs' cases on a contingent-fee basis, but in this case, Kirschner says a fundraiser is needed. "Dorian has nothing," he said. "There will be no lawsuit without the help of those in the public who think Dorian has been wronged and Newsweek acted recklessly. These lawsuits are too expensive and complicated to take on without asking for other people's help."

The "Newsweek Lied" page reiterates that Nakamoto knew nothing of Bitcoin until his son mentioned it to him shortly before the publication of Goodman's article. In an AP video interview, he mispronounces it, calling it "bitcom" and later saying he "never communicated with bitcoins."

Nakamoto claimed in a conversation with Forbes' Kashmir Hill that Goodman "invented an entirely new conversation that did not occur" when she said, "I told him, 'You’re acknowledging Bitcoin and if you weren’t involved you need to tell me now.' He said, 'I cannot do that.'"

Kirschner said that Nakamoto sent a formal request for a retraction, pointing out 16 factual errors and incorrect quotes, but the magazine ignored it.

Severe distress

Kirschner wouldn't say exactly what the claims he intends to make against Newsweek are. A successful defamation claim requires damages, and it's not obvious how incorrectly naming someone as an inventive genius would hurt them. The "background" page of the Newsweek Lied site does seem to lay some groundwork for that.

It notes that Bitcoin is "illegal in some countries and under intensive investigation by the FBI." Furthermore, if Goodman's conclusion were true, "it would have meant that Dorian lived a double life, making a practice of lying, for a decade or longer" to his closest family members. The site adds:

Dorian suffered a stroke in October 2013. His recovery is ongoing. He is separated from his wife, lives with his 93 year old mother, and has been unemployed as an engineer for at least ten years. Though he continues to look for work, he is experiencing "severe financial distress," in his own words and has significant trouble meeting his basic needs. He cancelled his Internet service in 2013 because he couldn't afford it.

Dorian's family was confused by Newsweek's article. He and his brothers were misquoted. In some cases, words were attributed to them that were never said. In the chaos, his mother believed that the authorities were planning on removing her from her home to put her in a care facility. His estranged wife and children were alienated by the story, which portrayed a person and situation different from their understanding of their husband and father.

The Bitcoin community raised about $23,000 to help Dorian, and the site states that "he is extremely grateful for this gesture." The Legal Defense Fund is a "separate effort, authorized and endorsed by Dorian, to raise money to hold Newsweek accountable for their article."

The webpage posts a complaint filed against Goodman in 2011, when she was sued for defamation by an energy trader over statements in her book The Asylum: The Renegades Who Hijacked the World's Oil Market.

Goodman didn't respond to a request for comment on this story.

"Dorian is still looking for employment," said Kirschner. "He is still struggling to meet his basic needs on a daily basis. He lives precariously."

Kirschner said he'll announce how much is raised at a future time. The site accepts donations in Bitcoin.