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MtGox Files For Bankruptcy Protection

Posted by Soulskill on from the all-about-the-bitjamins dept.

Sockatume writes "The beleaguered MtGox bitcoin exchange has officially filed for bankruptcy protection in Tokyo. According to the Wall Street Journal, Bitcoin held an impromptu press conference that addressed recent rumors. They state that they have over $60m in liabilities against just $30m in assets, and confirm the loss of over $500m worth of Bitcoins, split between customers' balances (750,000 BTC) and company assets (100,000 BTC). Owner Mark Karpeles said, 'There was some weakness in the system, and the bitcoins have disappeared. I apologize for causing trouble.'"

8 of 465 comments (clear)

  1. Ha ha by BasilBrush · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And so the libertarian unregulated money dream dies.

    1. Re:Ha ha by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And as soon as someone dares to sell oil for anything but USDs, it will become obvious.

      The irony about it all is that it's probably going to be China that props the US up, considering that they have maybe the most to lose (right after the US themselves, of course) if the USD bubble pops.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:Ha ha by stinerman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My toaster isn't worth as much as it was when I bought it, either.

      Money is supposed to be a medium of exchange, not an investment. If you believe that a zero inflation rate is a good thing, I suggest you take an introductory course in economics.

    3. Re:Ha ha by Dunbal · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And we need growth because? Growth is sustainable forever right? How about you think about things instead of just parroting them? Those who benefit from growth are governments and monopolies, because then they can increase their budgets or offset future losses without having to do anything at all. It's the low hanging fruit and that is all it is. One day, you run out of easy fruit and have to do work. Debauching the entire system in order to fool yourself that there is more easy fruit will soon bring the whole tree down on top of you. We are fast approaching population sizes and technological levels where exponential growth is no longer possible (or even desired). Why should our economics not reflect this?

      --
      Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
  2. Bitcoin did what? by LordLucless · · Score: 5, Insightful

    According to the Wall Street Journal, Bitcoin held an impromptu press conference that addressed recent rumors.

    Bitcoin held an impromptu press conference? Did the Dollar and the Peso attend as well?

    Oh, you mean Mt. Gox held an impromptu press conference. Yeah, well, whoever trusted an online card trading portal as if it were a bank deserves whatever they got, IMO.

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  3. This is actually good news by xiando · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Failed exchanges are supposed to die. This is how a free market is supposed to work. I have been warning against using MtGox since April 2013 and you can all go check my Bitcointalk posts to see that this is true. If you request a withdraw from an exchange and it suddenly takes two weeks instead of a few days before you get your money then it is time to get out. If the delay increases to four weeks then six then months then it's clearly time to not only get out but also warn others about this exchange. A whole lot of extremely stupid people ignored all the red flags and alarmbells and they lost money when this exchange went bankrupt. This is very good. A small percentage of the people who lost money at MtGox will learn from this and be more careful and picky as to where they place their money in the future. If you do not have control of the private keys of a Bitcoin then you don't have the Bitcoin, you have an IOU with someone who may or may not hold Bitcoin for you. The demise of MtGox will sadly make many of the idiots who lost money there cry for more government, more regulation and more fascism. Fascism is not a good solution, more personal responsibility is the solution. As I said, there were dozens of red flags yet people kept using this clowncar exchange. "but but but I can arbitrage because the price is 25% higher there" said a lot of people who ended up loosing their money. Well duh, why do you think that 25% premium was there in the first place, stupid? In short: Fools and their money are usually separated. If you can't bother to do five minutes of basic research of the place where you plan to place thousands or millions of dollars then you get what you deserve. This is, in my opinion, a good thing.

    --
    9/11: Never forget it was a false-flag operation
    1. Re:This is actually good news by BitZtream · · Score: 5, Insightful

      So what you're saying is that everyone is supposed to magically learn from this how to defend against the next exchange which does a better job of handling its theft so no one gets any red flags until its too late and they've take ALL of the money rather than just half of it? Is that what you're saying?

      This job was sloppy. The next one will be bigger (assuming a collapse doesn't occur this time, which I don't think it will, probably 1 or 2 more first) and probably not show any signs that its happening in advance.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
  4. Re:gambling by BasilBrush · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Real Bitcoin users don't keep their bitcoins in an exchange but on their device.

    No True Scotsman lost money on Bitcoin.