Mt.Gox shuts down, is insolvent

Well, Mt. Gox is shut down now, the website is a blank page.

A certain fish gave me this slideshow: http://www.scribd.com/doc/209050732/MtGox-Situation-Crisis-Strategy-Draft

Looks like they were planning to pitch the company to another exchange and whitewash the stolen coins.  Honestly, it is my opinion that MagicalTux probably stole the 744,000 bitcoins if this is real.

Seems that the other exchanges agree, i.e.: http://blog.blockchain.info/2014/02/25/joint-statement/

Hmm...

kaniini said:

Well, Mt. Gox is shut down now, the website is a blank page.

A certain fish gave me this slideshow: http://www.scribd.com/doc/209050732/MtGox-Situation-Crisis-Strategy-Draft

Looks like they were planning to pitch the company to another exchange and whitewash the stolen coins.  Honestly, it is my opinion that MagicalTux probably stole the 744,000 bitcoins if this is real.

Seems that the other exchanges agree, i.e.: http://blog.blockchain.info/2014/02/25/joint-statement/

Hmm...

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It gets better/sadder/funnier:

http://recode.net/2014/02/24/the-mt-gox-bitcoin-exchange-has-disappeared/

Earlier on Monday evening a group of bitcoin companies, which included Coinbase, Circle and BTC China, said they were issuing “a joint statement to the Bitcoin community regarding the insolvency of Mt.Gox.” The statement later removed any mention of insolvency, but a spokesman for the group told Re/code that “Mt. Gox has confirmed it will file bankruptcy in private discussions with other members of the bitcoin community.”

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All the other exchanges involved in that joint message seem to be doing a little whitewashing of their own (I'm betting at least some of their finances will be somehow tied into these losses)

Every day the Bitcoin community cries about government regulations, honestly they probably deserve everything that has happened and will be happening in this situation. It's not like laws regarding finance and anti-trusts and so on were just arbitrarily made-up.

Also, anyone who ever said to themselves "I am going to entrust my money to a website formerly known as 'Magic The Gathering: Online Exchange' which runs an in-house trading system programmed by amateurs" ...well, I can't say they have my pity.

texteditor said:

It gets better/sadder/funnier:

http://recode.net/2014/02/24/the-mt-gox-bitcoin-exchange-has-disappeared/

All the other exchanges involved in that joint message seem to be doing a little whitewashing of their own (I'm betting at least some of their finances will be somehow tied into these losses)

Every day the Bitcoin community cries about government regulations, honestly they probably deserve everything that has happened and will be happening in this situation. It's not like laws regarding finance and anti-trusts and so on were just arbitrarily made-up.

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Well, if you think about it, this makes sense... if they throw the bankruptcy word around, then people might make a run on the other exchanges, which would be a situation they want to avoid.

I think I'll stick with using Ripple for my exchange needs.

The numbers are quite high...

Total liabilities: 55,000,000 USD + 744,408 BTC => (MtGox av 160 USD) = 119,105,280 USD

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What technically did Mt. Gox even do though?   I never saw a business model of such largess there.

drmike said:

What technically did Mt. Gox even do though?   I never saw a business model of such largess there.

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Me neither ... 2000 BTC in a "hot pocket" and 119M total is quite impressive for an exchange service.

Damn... That's quite freightening actually, let's hope this won't happen to any other bitcoin-exchange service...

@kaniini did you lose any BTC due to this?

I wonder what arbitrary excuses will be made to keep BTC up on a pedestal despite messes like this <_<

Aldryic C said:

I wonder what arbitrary excuses will be made to keep BTC up on a pedestal despite messes like this <_<

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BUT PRIVACY!

To say this wasn't predictable would be a lie.

Yeah, this is going the way of e-gold, e-bullion and Liberty Reserve, all digital currencies that came and went. Amidst being buried a million times on reddit when contrary to popular opinion I stated bitcoin is nothing new, never has been other than the mining and decentralized system. Its still an e-currency outside of Gov regulation. This is what happens when there is no oversight and regulation unfortunately. At this point bitcoin is only good for speculation. I'm guessing over 50% is still being used illicitly ie., money laundering and the silk roads out there... and no govt at this point is going to want to touch it other than shutting it down.

Its still decentralized so who know how long its going to stick around, but I still don't want to touch it with a ten foot pole.

So, many indexes were based on the Mt. Gox numbers for worth of a bitcoin...

Where exactly  is the Bitcoin value this fine day on those other markets?

Ruchirablog said:

did you lose any BTC due to this?

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No.  If I did, I would be on the next plane to Japan to kick some ass, I assure you.



I'll just leave that here.

drmike said:

So, many indexes were based on the Mt. Gox numbers for worth of a bitcoin...

Where exactly  is the Bitcoin value this fine day on those other markets?

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Most places use Bitstamp now for a while, since MtGox was worthless for over a year anyway.

kaniini said:

I'll just leave that here.

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2 million income on 10.7 in sales...  ~ 20% profit in a business with literally no product cost.

Cost of goods at 100k, corporate taxes at 1.02 million and net income of 2 million...

Oh boy....  

Clearly they were in the business of selling vapor.

wlanboy said:

The numbers are quite high...

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$5.5million in assets, being 'held' by the DHS, much like a savings account of sorts...