The Gox Crater: Crowd Detectives Reveal Billion-Dollar Heist As Inside Job

[Redfairen]

Thousands of volunteering and self-organizing detectives have been meticulously laying a puzzle that reveals the Gox billion-dollar heist as an inside job. As smoke clears on the implosion of the Empty Gox bitcoin exchange, thousands of people in the community committed to revealing the truth behind the stonewalling exchange. What was claimed first to be a technical problem, then an outside theft, has been conclusively determined that the MtGox management knew too much, too long ago, to have this be an ordinary case of theft.

There are still many question marks remaining surrounding the missing 744,408 bitcoin at Empty Gox, valued at their peak to just under one billion US dollars, and which are well north of that in replacement value on the open market today. What’s becoming clear, though, is that this wasn’t a theft that properly shut down operations as soon as it was discovered. Instead, Empty Gox and its CEO Mark Karpeles appear to have attempted to benefit and profit from it. That would cross the line into criminal complicity, even if they were not part of the original loss – something that also remains an open question.

At this point, there are two outstanding principal questions:

Who took the money?
When was the money taken?


(Do read the whole link. Lots of thought-provoking stuff here.)
http://falkvinge.net/2014/02/28/the-gox-crater-crowd-detectives-reveal-billion-dollar-heist-as-inside-job/

[BlueStreak]

1. I object to the characterization as a good idea that just had some bad actors

The article doesn't say that verbatim, but that is the tone used throughout the story and that is the spin that much of the media is trying to give it.

This was a criminal enterprise from the git go. Or at least, let's say it was a massive con job from the beginning. The whole premise of self-appointed caretakers who give themselves the right to will this currency into existence with no public accountability is not a case of bad judgment. It is clearly a case of white collar crime planned over a period of years. The article does a good job of demonstrating that the period of cover-up was much longer than any period of genuine, honest operation -- if there ever was such a period.

[cheyanne]

2. I though bitcoins were unregulated but

I've seen something about a subpoena from the US and bankruptcy. Is Mt. Gox a real company?

[seattledo]

4. Yes, it's a real company.

It was created to sell toys for children. More specifically some anti-social game named Magic the Gathering.

[customerserviceguy]

3. My name for the people who believe in Bitcoins

Mt.Gox suckers.

[BlueStreak]

5. :) There are two degrees of suckers here.

There are the ones who embraced the concept to the degree that they consciously decided to overlook the huge flaws in the system. These people were naive to the extreme, but at least it was because they saw this as a solution to some big problems. I get that.

What I don't get is anybody still carrying on as if nothing just happened. We probably need a word other than sucker in those cases..

[Hoppy]

6. ...and a third question, Where is the money, now?

[supernova]

7. Begs the question

if you stole all that data, er bitcoins, you can't spend it as bitcoins. It's hot property now, like a stolen painting. Who's going to buy it, knowing it was stolen? IOW, how are the thieves going to convert bitcoins back into real currency so they can enjoy it?

Oh and I think the concept of e-money is now here to stay. Bitcoins didn't work, obviously, but someone will figure out a way to make it work in the future. Maybe sooner than we think.

[Redfairen]

8. Plenty of shady offshore banks would help you out.

For a nice fee, of course. Where there's no oversight there will always be a way to clean up your dirty money.