Mt Gox | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 14 Sep 2015 15:01:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png Mt Gox | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Mt Gox CEO charged with embezzling bitcoins https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/mt-gox-ceo-charged-with-embezzling-bitcoins/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/mt-gox-ceo-charged-with-embezzling-bitcoins/#respond Mon, 14 Sep 2015 14:59:39 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=267698 The former CEO of Mt Gox, Mark Karpelès has been officially charged with embezzlement by Japanese prosecutors. The former head of the Mt Gox Bitcoin exchange is said to have embezzled ¥321 million or £1.7 million. The exchange itself fell apart in 2014 after hundreds of thousands of Bitcoins disappeared from user wallets. Karpelès allegedly …

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The former CEO of Mt Gox, Mark Karpelès has been officially charged with embezzlement by Japanese prosecutors. The former head of the Mt Gox Bitcoin exchange is said to have embezzled ¥321 million or £1.7 million. The exchange itself fell apart in 2014 after hundreds of thousands of Bitcoins disappeared from user wallets.

Karpelès allegedly transferred money from the Mt Gox bank account to other accounts back in 2013, some of that money was used for 3D rendering software, while some of it was used on personal items, according to the Jiji Press. 

Mt-Gox-Logo1

Karpelès was arrested back in August. At the time, it was believed that he went in to the Mt Gox Exchange system back in February 2013 in order to inflate his own funds by around $1 million. So far, the former CEO has denied charges, apparently, he also planned to pay back any money he took.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: The Mt Gox crash was a pretty big story last year and it looks like there is still more to it. Did any of you ever mine Bitcoins or use Mt Gox?

Via: The Guardian

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Mt.Gox bitcoin exchange ex-CEO arrested in Japan https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mt-gox-bitcoin-exchange-ex-ceo-arrested-in-japan/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mt-gox-bitcoin-exchange-ex-ceo-arrested-in-japan/#respond Mon, 03 Aug 2015 10:14:06 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=261798 Along with the claims of Silk Road founder, Ross Ulbricht's defence team that he was the real Dread Pirate Roberts, Mt. Gox's old CEO, Mark Karpeles has been linked with the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of bitcoins worth many tens of millions and it looks like enough evidence has now been compiled for his …

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Along with the claims of Silk Road founder, Ross Ulbricht's defence team that he was the real Dread Pirate Roberts, Mt. Gox's old CEO, Mark Karpeles has been linked with the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of bitcoins worth many tens of millions and it looks like enough evidence has now been compiled for his arrest. The 30 year old has now been detained in Japan, on suspicion of being connected with the disappearance of the currency during a ‘hack' back in 2014.

In total, some 750,000 customer coins and around 100,000 of those owned by the exchange were stolen. At the time, they were collectively worth almost half a billion dollars. Later Karpeles claimed to have recovered around 200,000 of the lost coins.

mtgox

Although the software flaw that was said to facilitate the hack made every exchange and site vulnerable, many others continued to operate afterwards and still do to this day.

Few details on the detainment of Karpeles are available at this time, with the Japanese authorities not confirming the arrest as of yet. However as Reuters points out, Karpeles has been under investigation for some time.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: For anyone wondering why a Bitcoin exchange was called Mt. Gox, it's because before it was turned into an currency trading platform by its original owner, Jed McCaleb, it was set to be a platform for “exchanging,” Magic The Gathering cards. MtGox…change. I suppose. 

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Mt. Gox penniless long before closure https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mt-gox-penniless-long-before-closure/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mt-gox-penniless-long-before-closure/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2015 09:51:11 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=245822 The closure of Mt Gox was one of the biggest bitcoin related stories of 2014, despite it taking place early in the year. However, it's now come to light that despite being one of the world's prominent bitcoin exchanges and depositories, it was in-fact insolvent for a long time before its collapse, due to thieves …

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The closure of Mt Gox was one of the biggest bitcoin related stories of 2014, despite it taking place early in the year. However, it's now come to light that despite being one of the world's prominent bitcoin exchanges and depositories, it was in-fact insolvent for a long time before its collapse, due to thieves cleaning outs its cold storage.

While we learned during the announced closure of the site that some sort of hack had taken place, which led to many thousands of coins being stolen, it wasn't quite clear how long ago it had happened. Now though, investigations reported by FT, suggest that Mt. Gox might have been cleaned out in the summer of 2013, almost a year before its eventual collapse.

bitcoin

It wasn't all in one big heist however, but several smaller transactions, which over a period of a few months siphoned off a few hundred coins at a time from Mt. Gox coffers and sent them to a different account entirely, always without an official transfer log. Investigators believe these transactions may have been carried out by a bot, autonomously ‘buying' the currency using faked US dollars, therefore getting hold of the currency for no investment.

There has been speculation in the past that the site's owner may have been responsible for the siphoning of coins, as well as founding the darknet drug marketplace Silk Road, but there doesn't appear to be much evidence to support those claims.

Police investigations into Mt. Gox are continuing, following further pressure from creditors who lost out heavily on the site's closure.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Fortunately I never had any coins stored with Mt. Gox, but a lot of people did. Sadly that's just one of the dangers with using a currency like bitcoin, and a good selling point for offline storage. 

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Alternate Silk Road owner evidence ruled inadmissable https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/alternate-silk-road-owner-evidence-ruled-inadmissable/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/alternate-silk-road-owner-evidence-ruled-inadmissable/#respond Wed, 21 Jan 2015 10:24:56 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=231659 The defence of Ross Ulbricht during his ongoing court case for owning and operating the Tor accessible drug marketplace, Silk Road, was dealt a blow yesterday, when evidence from an agent with the department of homeland security (DHS) that claimed Ulbricht was a fall guy, was ruled inadmissible by the judge. The defence spent many …

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The defence of Ross Ulbricht during his ongoing court case for owning and operating the Tor accessible drug marketplace, Silk Road, was dealt a blow yesterday, when evidence from an agent with the department of homeland security (DHS) that claimed Ulbricht was a fall guy, was ruled inadmissible by the judge.

The defence spent many hours late last week cross-examining agent Jared Der-Yeghiayan, who claimed that along with Ulbricht his department had been investigating the owner of Bitcoin exchange, Mt Gox, Mark Karpeles, claiming that he was the shadowy owner and original founder of Silk Road. In his mind, Ulbricht was just a fall guy. He did have some evidence to back this claim up, but a lot of it was very dubious and the judge agreed.

After many objections from the prosecution, the judge ruled yesterday that Der-Yeghiayan's testimony on the matter of Karepeles was inadmissible due to “hearsay” and would be struck from the record. According to Vice news, this sent the defence reeling, with attorney Joshua Dratel requesting an extension to reassess his position. It was denied.

He later complained that the prosecution shouldn't be allowed to “eviscerate” his line of questioning retroactively.

rossu
Ross Ulbricht

The defence's main focus will however remain on placing doubt in the mind of the jurors on the link between Ross Ulbricht and the online alias used by the Silkroad founder/owner, Dread Pirate Roberts. This is a key part of the prosecution's case that may need to be proved to secure a conviction. Ulbricht currently stands accused of of money laundering, computer hacking, conspiracy to traffic narcotics and attempting to solicit the murders of as many as six individuals.

When he was arrested in early October 2013, Ulbricht was purportedly chatting with Der-Yeghiayan, who was acting undercover as a member of Silk Road's administrative team. He also had a window open that displayed the back end of Silk Road, so proving he had no relation to the site may be impossible. Proving he was DPR though, may be equally difficult.

KitGuru Says: This case should be very interesting, as it will tell us how secure the Tor platform really is. If the government had cracked it open as some people claim, it would surely levy that ability to bring Ulbricht down.

Image source: FreeRoss

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Ross Ulbricht defence to claim Mt Gox CEO was Silk Road founder https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/ross-ulbricht-defence-to-claim-mt-gox-ceo-was-silk-road-founder/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/ross-ulbricht-defence-to-claim-mt-gox-ceo-was-silk-road-founder/#respond Mon, 19 Jan 2015 17:35:22 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=231256 The case of the alleged Silk Road founder, Ross Ulbricht, took an interesting turn today, as the defence began cross-examining department of homeland security (DHS) investigator, Jared Der-Yeghiayan, who said under questioning that he had also investigated the last-owner of the Mt Gox. Bitcoin exchange, Mark Karpeles. He went on to claim that he had reasonable evidence …

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The case of the alleged Silk Road founder, Ross Ulbricht, took an interesting turn today, as the defence began cross-examining department of homeland security (DHS) investigator, Jared Der-Yeghiayan, who said under questioning that he had also investigated the last-owner of the Mt Gox. Bitcoin exchange, Mark Karpeles. He went on to claim that he had reasonable evidence to suspect that Karpeles was the original founder of the Silk Road.

While the federal investigation switched over to the eventually arrested Ross Ulbricht, Forbes has it that the DHS still thinks Karpeles was originally behind the site and that along with fellow alleged site admin, Ashley Barr, they convinced Ulbricht to administer portions of the site. Essentially, making him the fall guy for when the police came knocking.

Der-Yeghiayan's beliefs went much deeper than that though. Along with suspecting Karpeles of being the founder of Silk Road, he also believes that he used the drug marketplace to help bolster the price of Bitcoin and thereby increase his own personal fortunes, which ballooned as the use Mt. Gox grew. Evidence for such a connection comes from the fact that a Karpeles owned business, Mutum Sigillum, purchased domains linked with the Silk Road website. Both a Karpeles run Bitcoin forum and the official Silk Road forums ran the same outdated version of the forum software too.

ross
Ross Ulbricht seemed out of character with what people expected DPR to be. 

“I can only feel defense attorney Joshua Dratel [is] trying everything he can to point the attention away from his client,” said Mark Karpeles in his statement. He has also previously denied any claims that he has had any involvement with Silk Road and claimed that any relation to domains registered by his company must have been a client of his webhosting business, which has been running since 2009.

Despite these claims however, Karpeles met with Homeland Security Investigations in May 2013 (six months before Silk Road was seized) to allegedly discuss charges of running an unlicensed money service – Mt. Gox – and money laundering. Apparently at that meeting, Karpeles lawyer suggested that his client would give up the identity of Dread Pirates Roberts (the Silk Road Admin's alias) in exchange for the charges being dropped.

Karpeles has to date, never been charged, but then it's not particularly surprising considering a lot of that information has not been ruled admissible in court. In-fact, it was described by U.S. attorney Serrin Turned, as unfounded hearsay.

For his part however, Ross Ulbricht is said to have smiled when the investigation into Karpeles was discussed.

KitGuru Says: Certainly intriguing, albeit a lot of hearsay and rumour. However Ulbricht's operation security slip-up did seem a bit amateurish for someone who had supposedly been running the site for some time. 

Image source: Free Ross

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Mt.Gox finds 200,000 of its missing bitcoins https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/mt-gox-finds-200000-of-its-missing-bitcoins/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/mt-gox-finds-200000-of-its-missing-bitcoins/#respond Fri, 21 Mar 2014 15:11:17 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=183732 Japanese bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, has recently found 200,000 of its 850,000 missing bitcoins in an old un-used wallet from 2011. The wallet is currently worth around $116 million USD, which amounts to £70 million. The firm is still missing 650,000 coins though and has still yet to explain where they have gone or how …

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Japanese bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, has recently found 200,000 of its 850,000 missing bitcoins in an old un-used wallet from 2011. The wallet is currently worth around $116 million USD, which amounts to £70 million. The firm is still missing 650,000 coins though and has still yet to explain where they have gone or how they were taken.

Mt Gox Chief Executive, Mark Karpeles, announced that it had recovered some coins in a filing: “MtGox had certain old-format wallets which were used in the past and which, MtGox thought, no longer held any bitcoins. Following the application for commencement of a civil rehabilitation proceeding, these wallets were rescanned and their balance researched. On March 7, 2014, MtGox Co., Ltd. confirmed that an old format wallet which was used prior to June 2011 held a balance of approximately 200,000 BTC.”

Mt-Gox-Logo

The found coins have been moved to offline wallets to avoid being targeted. Mt. Gox was formerly the biggest bitcoin exchange in the world, however, it unexpectedly filed for bankruptcy in February following a hack that saw thousands of bitcoins taken away from customers. When the bitcoin theft took place, 750,000 customer bitcoins were taken along with 100,000 of the firms own bitcoins. So far there has been no explanation, only theories and rumours of an inside job, which led to the hacking of Mt. Gox CEO's personal blog earlier this month.

KitGuru Says: This seems like a stroke of luck for the exchange, 200,000 lost coins is a big find. Hopefully the remaining 650,000 will be recovered eventually. Did any of you guys have your bitcoins tied to Mt. Gox?

Source: BBC

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Mt. Gox database leaked, CEO issues spam warning https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/mt-gox-database-leaked-ceo-issues-spam-warning/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/generaltech/matthew-wilson/mt-gox-database-leaked-ceo-issues-spam-warning/#respond Mon, 10 Mar 2014 14:08:41 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=181389 Hackers have claimed to have accessed and leaked the Mt. Gox database showing that there should be a 915k Bitcoin balance left in the exchange. The hackers also hit Mt. Gox CEO, Mark Karpeles' personal blog and Reddit account in an effort to investigate allegations of fraud after the exchange lost $400 million worth of Bitcoins …

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Hackers have claimed to have accessed and leaked the Mt. Gox database showing that there should be a 915k Bitcoin balance left in the exchange. The hackers also hit Mt. Gox CEO, Mark Karpeles' personal blog and Reddit account in an effort to investigate allegations of fraud after the exchange lost $400 million worth of Bitcoins during February.

Forbes has reported that once the hackers gained access to Mark Karpeles' blog and Reddit account, they used the two platforms to post a message claiming that the CEO still had access to some of the bitcoins that were reported stolen, then to support the claim, they uploaded a series of files including a spreadsheet of more than a million trades, his home address and a screenshot that supposedly confirms the hackers access to the data. However, the largest file, coming in at 716MB, is the most interesting one as it shows the balance of Mt. Gox in 18 different currencies, showing a balance of 951,116 bitcoins. Hackers included a message in the document:

“It's time that Mt Gox got the Bitcoin community's wrath instead of Bitcoin Community getting Goxed. This release would have been sooner, but in spirit of responsible disclosure and making sure all of ducks were in a row, it took a few days longer than we would have liked to verify the data.”

Mt-Gox-Logo

So far, the leaked files and the claims that go with them, have yet to be verified but the exchange has released a spam warning in the form of a PDF which says:

“Spam Warning letter. It has come to our attention that Spam/Phishing emails looking as if MtGox was the sender are being sent to our users. These emails have not been sent by us and should be phishing emails. Please be aware that MtGox Co., Ltd does not request personal information by email. We highly recommend not to respond to these emails. Further updates concerning the procedure of filing of claims will be posted on the MtGox website.”

KitGuru Says: Right now everything is up in the air, accusations are being flung around but nobody knows the full story yet. That said, this probably could have been avoided if Mt. Gox staff were able to provide us with some answers.

Sources: Forbes, The Inquirer

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Details of Mt Gox bankrupcty emerge https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/details-of-mt-gox-bankrupcty-emerge/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/details-of-mt-gox-bankrupcty-emerge/#respond Tue, 04 Mar 2014 09:53:23 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=180226 Mt Gox, one of the world's longest running and most respected bitcoin exchanges disappeared from the web last week, with a single message replacing its usual bustling site and all its tweets deleted. Now we know that the site has gone belly up, but why? Mostly because it lost over 750,000 of customer bitcoins. Even …

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Mt Gox, one of the world's longest running and most respected bitcoin exchanges disappeared from the web last week, with a single message replacing its usual bustling site and all its tweets deleted. Now we know that the site has gone belly up, but why? Mostly because it lost over 750,000 of customer bitcoins.

Even at today's somewhat deflated bitcoin prices (though they are starting to show some signs of recovery), that equates to over $400 million (£240 million) and doesn't even include the 100,000+ bitcoins that the Mt Gox CEO owned that were also stolen. Alongside Mt Gox, he's also filed for personal bankruptcy protection.

Ongoing both Mt Gox and Japanese authorities are said to be looking into the theft of so many coins, though with hacks and heists in the past seeing little in the way of arrests, it seems unlikely that anyone will find them. They're most likely long gone and laundered multiple times by now.

mtgoxnow
Mt Gox then and now

However, that doesn't necessarily mean Mt Gox users are out of luck entirely. The company did have impressive financial holdings in traditional banking, though in the BBC coverage, there's no mention of a payout to those negatively effected by the shut down.

Visiting the Mt Gox site now just returns a blank page with a notice of domain suspension. Ongoing, a call centre has been set up to answer customer questions.

In the UK however, bitcoins are set to receive an official notification by HMRC over taxation, with all expectations pointing to it being treated like any other currency – whether that will further legitimise it remains to be seen.

KitGuru Says: Really awful luck for those that had many coins stored with Mt Gox. Here's hoping no KitGuru readers were hit too hard in the take down. 

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Japanese authorities to investigate Mt Gox closure https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/japanese-authorities-to-investigate-mt-gox-closure/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/japanese-authorities-to-investigate-mt-gox-closure/#comments Wed, 26 Feb 2014 09:55:25 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=179277 After the strange demise of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, Japanese authorities have pledged to investigate what happened to its business and the funds of its customers, many of whom lost hundreds and thousands of pounds worth of the digital currency when first Gox halted all withdrawals and finally shut down without warning. The difficulty is …

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After the strange demise of bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, Japanese authorities have pledged to investigate what happened to its business and the funds of its customers, many of whom lost hundreds and thousands of pounds worth of the digital currency when first Gox halted all withdrawals and finally shut down without warning.

The difficulty is finding someone who has jurisdiction over the business, as despite being part of the investigation, both the Finance Ministry and Japan's Financial Services don't have any real power to to do anything. However, the police are also looking into the case and may be able to open up Gox's books, or at list bring some sort of charge against the owners, since many believe they defrauded customers by not discussing thefts made throughout the company's life time, revealed to the public as part of leaked crisis documentation yesterday.

mtgox2
Mt Gox was one of the most popular and longest running exchanges before its closure

This investigation will also be aided by other organisations around the world, as federal prosecutors in New York have also sent a subpoena to the now defunct exchange, according to Reuters.

As it stands, while no official announcement has been made by Gox staff, we do have this message on the site itself, which went blank along with the company's official twitter:
“Dear MtGox Customers,

In light of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox’s operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly.

Best regards,
MtGox Team”

KitGuru says: What exactly the Gox staff will be watching is unclear, but no doubt the pending legal action against its owners could be part of it. 

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Updated: Mt Gox loses 700,000+ bitcoins in heist, looks to close https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mt-gox-loses-700000-bitcoins-in-heist-looks-to-close/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/mt-gox-loses-700000-bitcoins-in-heist-looks-to-close/#comments Tue, 25 Feb 2014 17:19:35 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=179016 Update: Mt Gox has now posted a message on its site that reads: Dear MtGox Customers, In light of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox's operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will …

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Update: Mt Gox has now posted a message on its site that reads:

Dear MtGox Customers,

In light of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox's operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly.

Best regards,
MtGox Team

You would assume it would “closely monitor,” it's own downfall, but perhaps that's something lost in the translation.

Original story: It looks like one of the world's biggest Bitcoin exchanges, Japan's Mt Gox, is closing down for good, as in the wake of a leaked internal document that revealed that a bug in the system had allowed over 700,000 bitcoins to be stolen over several years, it's website has disappeared, its Twitter has been all but deleted and the owner has stepped down from his seat on the board of the Bitcoin Foundation, a digital currency advocacy group.

The document in question is titled “Crisis Strategy Draft,” and outlines that while the bitcoin malleability issue was recently discovered and shored up thanks to a fix from Blockchain, Mt Gox may have lost as many as 744,408 bitcoins over the past few years while the error wasn't accounted for. It goes on to suggest that Mt Gox was practically bankrupted it eventually, with the “cold storage (…) wiped out due to a leak in the hot wallet.” While this shouldn't necessarily be possible, due to cold storage wallets almost always being kept offline, clearly in this instance a security lapse left Mt Gox penniless.

While some have questioned the validity of the document, several other contributing factors point the finger at a Mt Gox closure. There's the fact that other exchanges have come back online and begun allowing withdrawals in the wake of the recent bitcoin security issue – which saw everyone, including Silk Road hit by thefts – whereas Mt Gox has not, leading to its internal trading bitcoin value to bottom out. Similarly the Mt Gox Twitter has been wiped clean. Though the account is still active, there's not a single tweet on it. The official website is also showing a blank page.

mtgox
“…hasn't tweeted yet.” Or more accurately, it hasn't tweeeted since it deleted all of its tweets. 

Often with the closure of big bitcoin wallets and depositories, the speculation begins shortly after, suggesting that the owners have done a runner with the coins instead of handing them back to the community. While that may not be entirely untrue, according to the internal document – which has yet to be officially ratified – the reason Gox hasn't spoken out about the theft, is because of fears of how it would affect the public's view on bitcoin.

“We believe in the value of Bitcoin, its potential to change the world, and its principles of transparency. Most importantly we care about the customers of MtGox and other bitcoin-basedbusinesses who will be affected,” it said. “However, with Bitcoin/crypto just recently gaining acceptance in the public eye, the likely damage in public perception to this class of technology could put it back 5~10 years, and cause governments to react swiftly and harshly. At the risk of appearing hyperbolic, this could be the end of Bitcoin, at least for most of the public.”

If you're still not convinced Mt Gox most likely isnt' coming back, the other big exchanges have been talking about its impending demise. Coinbase released a big statement on its yesterday, stating that: “Mtgox has confirmed its issues in private discussions with other members of the bitcoin community.” However it did add the caveat, that even with Mt Gox heading to landfill, that it's confident bitcoin as a currency and industry will bounce back.

Other exchanges pledged their allegiance to this message, including the CEO's of BTC China, Blockchain.info, Circle, Bistamp.net and Kraken. This hasn't stopped bitcoin's value from dropping below $500 for the first time though, putting bitcoin traders a difficult position. Has the currency bottomed out yet? If so, now is the time to buy, but if there's more bad news on the horizon, would it be better to wait?

KitGuru Says: Bitcoin always seems so exciting from the outside, but I can't imagine having lots of money wrapped up in it. Its too volatile. I'd end up up spending all day watching values and having a heart attack at every dip. 

That aside though, did any of you guys have money locked up in Mt Gox?

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Has bitcoin found its cruising speed? https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/has-bitcoin-found-its-cruising-speed/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/has-bitcoin-found-its-cruising-speed/#comments Mon, 17 Feb 2014 11:01:29 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=177867 Bitcoin value has always been susceptible to violent jumps and dips in its value, famously crashing from $30 to $3 back in 2012, then shooting up to $200 and then $1200 in 2013. More recently however, with fallout from Mt Gox, one of the world's longest running exchanges, we've seen the value drop, but only …

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Bitcoin value has always been susceptible to violent jumps and dips in its value, famously crashing from $30 to $3 back in 2012, then shooting up to $200 and then $1200 in 2013. More recently however, with fallout from Mt Gox, one of the world's longest running exchanges, we've seen the value drop, but only so far before it was caught and wrestled to a standstill, where it's remained, despite Mt Gox' continued decline.

The issue with the Japanese exchange (Gox) was the site's administrators' announced problem with bitcoin, that according to many 0thers, is more to do with the way that the exchange handles its transactions, rather than with bitcoin itself. Either way though, Gox halted withdrawals and it's continued to do so for the past few days, leading many on the site to believe that it's days are numbered. This has in turn seen a lot of Gox users dump their bitcoin for whatever they can get for it, leading to the current average price on the exchange of around $275.

mtgox2
While prices remain low, some recent trades show a potential for recovery

As Techcrunch points out though, what's perhaps more impressive than this recent drop, is the fact that others have remained far more constant. A quick look at Blockchain's tracked stats, or Bitstamp and the price is far more constant, having not dropped much beyond $600, if at all. The same is true for many other exchanges. This shows a confidence in the currency and is a telling sign that bitcoin has become far bigger than any one exchange, even a once monstrously dominant one like Mt Gox.

The question is at this point, has bitcoin found its more natural, acceptable value at around the $600 mark? It will no doubt have another shake up if/when Mt Gox reopens its withdrawal system, as at that point a lot of low cost coins could be pulled out and sold for a nice profit on other exchanges.

Perhaps though, the reason for the lack of concern over Mt Gox's tumble from grace is because of the speculation surrounding its reasoning. Some have suggested it could be a scam, with Mt Gox simply halting withdrawals so it can buy coins on the cheap and then sell them elsewhere – though there seems to be little evidence to support this theory at this time.

KitGuru Says: Have any of you guys got coins tied up in Mt Gox? If so, do you think the exchange will open up again and give you a chance to withdraw any time soon?

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Bitcoin value continues to tumble https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/bitcoin-value-continues-to-tumble/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/bitcoin-value-continues-to-tumble/#respond Tue, 11 Feb 2014 10:12:33 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=176988 The value of bitcoins over the past year has been an interesting ride to watch, since it ballooned in just ten months from around $30 per coin, to a massive $1,200 at one point. Since then it's cruised at around the $950 mark but most recently, it's tumbled spectacularly after one of the world's biggest …

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The value of bitcoins over the past year has been an interesting ride to watch, since it ballooned in just ten months from around $30 per coin, to a massive $1,200 at one point. Since then it's cruised at around the $950 mark but most recently, it's tumbled spectacularly after one of the world's biggest exchanges, Mt Gox announced it would be halting withdrawals due to “unusual activity”.

As it stands, the value at most exchanges has dropped to just under $600, with no real sign of Mt Gox opening up its doors again. In a recent update on the current status, it discussed the reason for the temporary shutdown – though it's expected to be ongoing. The problem, it said, was that a current issue with bitcoin transactions, meant that someone could theoretically mask a transfer, making it possible to spend the same coins twice or to hide the theft of large quantities of coins.

mtgox
‘Why would we hide the advert for new customers, just because anything they pay us can't be withdrawn?'

No one knows how long this Mt Gox outage will continue or how much further bitcoin value will fall. For now the exchange is asking users to be patient, suggesting it plans to restore withdrawals once the bug has been fixed. However that may not be soon enough for some. As Reuters reports, CoinDesk, an index of bitcoin exchanges, has removed Mt Gox from its listing, stating that the company's withdrawal restrictions and continued issues have made it a place that's difficult to recommend for bitcoin trading.

It also doesn't help that the Mt Gox staff haven't been active on the company's social networking accounts since January (Twitter) and December (Facebook). While it certainly wouldn't fix anything, just giving everyone a half hearted thumbs up via a tweet can often go a long way to assuage any concerns people may have that the exchange staff just did a runner.

However, those traders without coins invested in MtGox aren't too worried, believing the price of the digital currency will bounce back as it has before. In-fact we've seen vast swings in value based on exterior news before. The biggest upswing ever came with increased interest from China, as businesses and individuals began buying up huge bundles of coins, but the value then dropped dramatically when the Chinese government banned financial institutions from dealing in bitcoin.

KitGuru Says: It will be interesting to see though whether bitcoin returns to its previously lofty levels, or if it will settle at a much more middle of the road price once the freefall stops. 

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How high can Bitcoin go? https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/how-high-can-bitcoin-go/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/how-high-can-bitcoin-go/#respond Fri, 08 Nov 2013 09:42:07 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=161296 Remember when Bitcoin boomed and crashed earlier this year? Me and every other talking head out there was comparing it to the Dotcom bubble and its eventual bursting, suggesting that if it were to ever to return to pre-crash levels, it would take years. Apparently not, as today we're looking at a Bitcoin value that …

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Remember when Bitcoin boomed and crashed earlier this year? Me and every other talking head out there was comparing it to the Dotcom bubble and its eventual bursting, suggesting that if it were to ever to return to pre-crash levels, it would take years. Apparently not, as today we're looking at a Bitcoin value that is far and above what it's ever been before.

At the time of writing, Blockchain has the average value listed as $309 each, not far from $100 more than its previous record holding value of $237. The Mt Gox exchange is listing a similarly high value, with an average purchase price of $311. It's maximum recent bid though was a whopping $338.

blockchain2

This isn't a steady climb either. At the start of November, Bitcoin was hovering around $200, but in the last few days its exploded. What's the driving force behind this new value bump? Often in the past we've seen big headlines surrounding certain Bitcoin centric sites linked with these increases in value, so perhaps it's something similar. Part of it could be to do with the relaunch of the Silk Road drugs marketplace, though that's unlikely to be the whole story.

trades
It's nuts to think that this image represents around $50,000 

The question at this point of course, is how high is it going to go? Last time we saw an explosion like this, it was only a matter of days before the crash happened. Looking at the recent trades on Blockchain there does appear to be some relatively big trades going through, with people selling tens of Bitcoins at a time, which could well be larger players cashing out. This wouldn't have been that much just a year ago, maybe a couple hundred pounds, but with today's value, that represents thousands of pounds worth of Bitcoin.

KitGuru Says: Any of you made money in this recent surge? I never seem to have enough to “invest” when Bitcoin is at a low eb. 

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Are money launderers ruining Bitcoin buying? https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/are-money-launderers-ruining-bitcoin-buying/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/are-money-launderers-ruining-bitcoin-buying/#respond Fri, 21 Jun 2013 11:13:31 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=139423 Bitcoin is a brilliantly anonymous currency. Once its yours, you can do what you like with it and it's very difficult for anyone to track that down – you know, like cash. However one of the problems with it is that with mining becoming an unprofitable venture for all those that don't have specially designed …

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Bitcoin is a brilliantly anonymous currency. Once its yours, you can do what you like with it and it's very difficult for anyone to track that down – you know, like cash. However one of the problems with it is that with mining becoming an unprofitable venture for all those that don't have specially designed hardware, it's quite difficult to get hold of for the average user and it keeps getting harder, as more banks are shutting down their deposit schemes with trading firms.

Customers in the US can't receive dollar payouts from Mt Gox anymore – the world's biggest Bitcoin exchange – and recently Bitspend and Bitfloor both had their US bank accounts shut down. Even in the UK we've been affected, with Blockchain being forced to end its semi-automated cash for Bitcoin exchange system.

One of the stated reasons for all these services getting capped, is because Bitcoin makes money laundering incredibly easy. Say you're sitting on a pile of cash that you really shouldn't be, Bitcoin represents a very simple way to launder it, especially if there are automated purchasing systems in place. On a lot of these sites, it was simple a matter of inputting your Bitcoin wallet (or using the site's own one) identifier, bank transferring the funds over to the exchanges' account and within a few minutes you'd receive your Bitcoins. Juggle those about a bit between different sites and through a few tumblers and you now have Bitcoins that have been transferred all over the place with relatively untraceable histories which you could then trade back for real world currencies if you fancied it.

bitcoin
Banks and governments can hate on it all they want, but signs like this are appearing all over the place.

It's not even the banks fault for diving on this, as chances are most of them are knowingly or unknowingly involved in money laundering on some scale, but it's US regulators that they're afraid of. Bitcoin is something governments are wary of because of its anonymising strengths and banks really don't want to get embroiled in any sort of crack down, so they're being proactive and cutting off Bitcoin trading at the source. On top of that, Bitcoin is a currency that can be traded without fees, something banks are not keen on.

Which makes it very hard for you and me to get hold of any. Fortunately, there are still plenty of ways to buy a few bitcoins, the easiest I've found was buying from other people. You can do so through Ebay and other classified or auction sites, but if you want something a bit quicker and more secure, then a site like Bitbargain is perfect. It can be a little more expensive than something like MtGox, but it lets you do things in your local currency and it forces sellers to compete for cost, so prices aren't too bad. From there just transfer it out to your local or online wallet with a site like Blockchain and you're away.

KitGuru Says: So really, launderers aren't ruining it for everyone, it's the perception of money laundering that is. I'm sure Bitcoin is getting used for all sorts of laundering, but it's almost impossible to confirm or track, so whether it's happening or not, banks and authorities are cracking down and making the digital currency harder and harder to get. 

[Thanks Wired]

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Bitcoin bounces back after dropping $130 in a few hours https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/bitcoin-bounces-back-after-dropping-130-in-a-few-hours/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/jon-martindale/bitcoin-bounces-back-after-dropping-130-in-a-few-hours/#respond Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:25:52 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=131717 We've been reporting on Bitcoin's value explosion over the past couple of months, but for the past few days it's been tumultuous at best. Yesterday saw the highest Bitcoin value ever, topping out at around $266 per Bitcoin, but this was the final slog in Bitcoin's uphill sprint as it quickly tumbled all the way down to …

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We've been reporting on Bitcoin's value explosion over the past couple of months, but for the past few days it's been tumultuous at best. Yesterday saw the highest Bitcoin value ever, topping out at around $266 per Bitcoin, but this was the final slog in Bitcoin's uphill sprint as it quickly tumbled all the way down to $130 in a few hours.

Since then it's yoyo'd back and forth, returning to a still impressive $180 this morning. This doesn't appear to be the bubble bursting that is still expected to take place, but a ‘correction' as the unsustainable growth of Bitcoin took a little stumble. But what caused it?

bitcoindrop
Bitcoin's near vertical value climb was never going to last.

Initially people thought it might be a DDOS attack on the Mt.Gox exchange, but that has now been refuted on the company's Facebook page. It posted:

“Hi everyone, just a quick update on the situation and what happened last night. First of all we would like to reassure you but no we were not last night victim of a DDoS but instead victim of our own success!”

It goes on to explain that with all the news stories being posted about Bitcoins, interest in the currency has spiked. This caused a slow down of Bitcoin related services, prompting many people to assume the bubble was bursting and they began dumping Bitcoins, sending the value crashing.

However, with over 80 per cent of Bitcoins thought to be owned by a handful of people and companies, it seems none of the big players released their Bitcoins yet, as that would likely be the death knell for the currency's current financial highs – since even a 10 per cent stake in all Bitcoins would equal out to well over $100 million.

KitGuru Says: It seems crazy to think that if you'd bought Bitcoins in January this year and sold them yesterday morning, you'd have made around 1000 per cent profit.

[Cheers TechCrunch]

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