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Mt. Gox Bitcoin Exchange is Bankrupt


Monroe

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This was out a few days ago ... 850,000 bitcoins missing.

Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange is bankrupt, 850,000 bitcoins worth hundreds of millions missing.

Mt. Gox, once the world's biggest bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan on Friday, saying it may have lost nearly half a billion dollars worth of the virtual coins due to hacking into its faulty computer system.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Friday, February 28, 2014

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/mt-gox-bitcoin-exchange-bankrupt-850-000-bitcoins-worth-hundreds-millions-missing-ceo-article-1.1705005

TOKYO — The Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange in Tokyo filed for bankruptcy protection Friday and its chief executive said 850,000 bitcoins, worth several hundred million dollars, are unaccounted for.

The exchange’s CEO Mark Karpeles appeared before Japanese TV news cameras, bowing deeply for several minutes.

He said a weakness in the exchange’s systems was behind a massive loss of the virtual currency involving 750,000 bitcoins from users and 100,000 of the company’s own bitcoins. That would amount to about $425 million at recent prices.

The online exchange’s unplugging earlier this week and accusations it had suffered a catastrophic theft have drawn renewed regulatory attention to a currency created in 2009 as a way to make transactions across borders without third parties such as banks.

It remains unclear if the missing bitcoins were stolen, voided by technological flaws or both.

The loss is a giant setback to the currency’s image because its boosters have promoted bitcoin’s cryptography as protecting it from counterfeiting and theft.

more at the link ...

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If a person could just waltz inside the computer and press delete file, this is a stupid system. Bit-coin just means a representation of that stored money, not the real money, which is inside their banks, which is suppose to be kept safe, from a shaky economy.

This is just horrendous.

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well said
I find this all bitcoin crap funny, ironic, sad and stupid

people in my country went nuts about it

they started to buy graphic cards on their company accounts

and wasting company electric bills just to mine this crap day and night

I really hope this whole bitcoin system CRASHES !

Edited by vinifera
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That is some find ... I missed that story ... near perfect gold coins just laying around waiting to be discovered. There may be more coins on the property. Even better than Benjamins, being that gold doesn't deteriorate or break down from moisture. Fantastic story.

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Some additional news and insight on the missing Bitcoins ... "online computer" treasure hunters are searching for the coins and also people who lost Bitcoins.

"Some computing experts believed any hackers might be capable of covering the tracks of a potential computer break-in. But if each bitcoin has a marker, it would make it more difficult for thieves to try to convert a big stash into another currency, in the same way it would be difficult for an art thief to pawn off a pilfered Matisse painting quickly.

Those factors are giving hope to the wave of Mt. Gox victims and treasure hunters who have fanned out in search of the missing bitcoins. The virtual currency that disappeared represents nearly 7% of all bitcoins in circulation.

Devon Weller, a 40-year-old freelance Web developer in Nashville who said he had a "small amount" of bitcoins stashed at Mt. Gox, tossed aside his regular work Friday morning to start looking for missing bitcoins. He tapped into the public ledger from his home office and started following the trail of large transactions."

Almost Half a Billion Worth of Bitcoins Vanish

Updated Feb. 28, 2014

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303801304579410010379087576?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection&mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303801304579410010379087576.html%3Fmod%3DWSJ_hp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection

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Some old news.

December 2013

http://www.infoworld.com/t/cringely/greed-isnt-good-3-reasons-not-bite-bitcoin-232623

Recently, my editor at this intrepid publication told me he was going to start paying me in bitcoins. Like any logical person, I responded by punching him in the face.

"But why, Bob?" he cried -- literally. It was embarrassing. "Bitcoin is a virtual currency, Bob. That's way better than the plain old U.S. dollar," he whined, holding his bleeding nose. I should've known the blubberer and the bubbler would be one and the same.

January 2014

http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/a-new-way-to-obtain-bitcoin/4179

Pretty soon, companies will even start paying their employees with Bitcoin.

Up to this point, there hasn't been a cohesive solution for employers to do so. But this week, BitPay, the virtual payment processor that made that famous Tesla S Bitcoin purchase possible, has released its Bitcoin Payroll API. The interface allows companies to integrate Bitcoin transactions into their payroll systems, and distribute the famous cryptocurrency in a way anyone can understand.

Same article, an indirect confirmation of Rule#34 ;):

BitPay claims to have over 20,000 customers using its solutions, with more than a thousand jumping on every week. Last week, for example, a service called Verotel joined the ranks of BitPay customers. It's a payment solutions provider for so-called “high risk merchants.”

In other words, Verotel provides payment solutions for online adult websites, which tend to be prone to cyberattack. Anonymity is a major selling point for a service like Verotel, and BitPay can provide it with access to the Bitcoin ecosystem.

jaclaz

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Because "bitcoin" will NEVER be a real currency. It has no market, despite some of the retard kids on wall street. Bitcoin is no different than PLAY monopoly money, you get a couple dozen kids who think it's real money and they exchange it between themselves, then their friends get involved, but INTELLIGENT people know it has no face value, period.

Bitcoin will fall off the market, else banned by an intelligent politician.

Edited by epic
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Bitcoin will fall off the market, else banned by an intelligent politician.

I think you need a special license :w00t: to be allowed to post oximorons on MSFN ;):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxymoron

jaclaz

Well, you know as much as I do that there is no politicians that fit the bill. :} Unfortuneately intelligent people don't become politicians.

Politicians are jobs for people who fail at all other jobs. (So pretty much the crack heads when you went to college)

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Flexcoin is shutting down.

On March 2nd 2014 Flexcoin was attacked and robbed of all coins in the hot wallet. The attacker made off with 896 BTC, dividing them into these two addresses:

1NDkevapt4SWYFEmquCDBSf7DLMTNVggdu

1QFcC5JitGwpFKqRDd9QNH3eGN56dCNgy6

As Flexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss, we are closing our doors immediately.

Users who put their coins into cold storage will be contacted by Flexcoin and asked to verify their identity. Once identified, cold storage coins will be transferred out free of charge. Cold storage coins were held offline and not within reach of the attacker. All other users will be directed to Flexcoin's "Terms of service" located at "Flexcoin.com/118.html" a document which was agreed on, upon signing up with Flexcoin.

Flexcoin will attempt to work with law enforcement to trace the source of the hack.

Updates will be posted on twitter as soon as they become available.

The above is the entire notice found at: http://flexcoin.com/

Now, is this all the work of hackers? Or, is it the work of a Government or Governments, to keep control over currency and keep their citizens from putting anything out of the country or out of control of the respective government? Just a thought I had when I read the above. Most governments do not like barter or anything that they can not track and/or control.

bpalone

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^ Ouch.

Paper money is still safest and least traceable I would think. Paper trail is one thing, but an electronic trail is quite another. Besides, you can be inventive and come up with cool places to hide your paper money besides under your mattress.

Edited by LostInSpace2012
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