Geek treasure hunt begins as $527m of bitcoins disappear

I bet my left testacle a lot if people on here saw this coming!
With the drop of the value of Bitcoin, My opinion is, this is an inside job.

The Australian.
MT. GOX, once the dominant exchange for bitcoin trading, says that more than $US470 million ($527m) of the virtual currency has vanished from its digital coffers, kicking into high gear a search for the missing money by victims and cybersleuths.

How?
This will be the straw that broke the Camels back, Bye bye Bitcoin.

Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan.

I was optimistic for this new trading currency, oh well RIP.
If anyone on here has this $500 million can I please have some? Just a little?

L ink

But.. but... this can't be happening! Crypto-Cash was sooo supposed to be secure!

Oben Source!
"Nobody" (well.. somebody, obviously) found that error before this crash?


Well, to be sincere: I am not too suprised that someone found a flaw in this. Did you ever see error-free code before?

With the drop of the value of Bitcoin?
It is still $560 per bitcoin.
I don't have a dog in the fight but to say RIP bitcoin is a bit premature.

Probably the CIA and NSA, NRO... Bitcoins are a threat to national /global bank currencies. A very big threat. A joint effort to shut it all down and strip it clean, (or an effort to), would be just like the usual people. I'm getting tired of naming the criminals that can't get enough..

Inside job.
Bitcoins were a scam

ManFromEurope
But.. but... this can't be happening! Crypto-Cash was sooo supposed to be secure!

Oben Source!
"Nobody" (well.. somebody, obviously) found that error before this crash?


Well, to be sincere: I am not too suprised that someone found a flaw in this. Did you ever see error-free code before?

Uh, yea... the currency is secure. Nobody broke "into bitcoin"

Would you say the US dollar wasn't secure because Paypal gets hacked?

Mt gox is simply an exchange, they don't own or manage bitcoin. If you weren't trusting Mtgox to deal with your money and bitcoins, you were at zero risk of loosing your coins.

ANNED
Inside job.
Bitcoins were a scam

So... bitcoin was invented so that MtGox could scam people? Considering MtGox started as a trading card game website? You think Magic the Gathering and Pokemon were scams so that sites that sold the cards could rip people off? (by stealing, not by selling them overpriced pieces of cardboard)

I wouldn't be surprised if it was an inside job. Someone at MtGox "sells" the specific info about their security loophole to a friend who shares the spoils with them.

But, as you don't seem to realize, Mt Gox is NOT bitcoin. It's an exchange. I propose the same question as I did to the other poster, would you call the US dollar a scam if Paypal got hacked? Because that's literally the exact same thing. I'd agree the dollar is a scam, but whether or not paypal gets hacked would have nothing to do with it.

Maybe those ABC patriots (as they refer to themselves) approached Mt Gox with a very nice lucrative offer and leaned on them a bit with a subtle inference on what could happen if they refused../. ("after all, it's a matter of national security") I can just hear it all being said..

alienreality
Probably the CIA and NSA, NRO... Bitcoins are a threat to national /global bank currencies. A very big threat. A joint effort to shut it all down and strip it clean, (or an effort to), would be just like the usual people. I'm getting tired of naming the criminals that can't get enough..

edit on 3-3-2014 by alienreality because: (no reason given)

I was sort of thinking along the same idea. Those big agencies have all the resources to pull off this kind of heavy hack.

From what I've read so far it's been all but confirmed by various internet sleuths that it was an inside job. The coins were siphoned off over a period of time and Mt Gox management were aware of what was happening but bizarrely decided not to do anything about it.

The coins were stolen due to a weakness in the way Mt Gox was handling transaction data, not due to an inherant flaw in bitcoin itself. Mt Gox going under is definately a big blow to the currency, but it's not the end of the world.. if you've got spare cash lying around now would actually be the ideal time to buy a few. The price is likely to go back up to it's stable point in a few weeks ($700-900 AUD). Bitcoin is similar to trading the futures. It's extremely volatile, it's based on speculation and rumours and it can make you rich or poor in a split second.

ref: falkvinge.net...

I'm always a bit surprised with the relish, some people have in bit coins perceived " failure" . Especially on a site like ATS. It should be something we get behind. I bought a coin last year for $60 just out of interest. I have spent it now, but it would now be worth nearly $600. Not too many investments have such a return over such a short period of time. Some will have lost money, but a lot of people have made a LOT of money. It seems the ones who celebrate any bad news over bitcoin, have probably never had one.

James1982

ManFromEurope
But.. but... this can't be happening! Crypto-Cash was sooo supposed to be secure!

Oben Source!
"Nobody" (well.. somebody, obviously) found that error before this crash?


Well, to be sincere: I am not too suprised that someone found a flaw in this. Did you ever see error-free code before?

Uh, yea... the currency is secure. Nobody broke "into bitcoin"

Would you say the US dollar wasn't secure because Paypal gets hacked?

Mt gox is simply an exchange, they don't own or manage bitcoin. If you weren't trusting Mtgox to deal with your money and bitcoins, you were at zero risk of loosing your coins.

AFAIK, it was the "Transaction Malleability" error. A kind of explanation on Reddit

woodwardjnr
I'm always a bit surprised with the relish, some people have in bit coins perceived " failure" . Especially on a site like ATS. It should be something we get behind. I bought a coin last year for $60 just out of interest. I have spent it now, but it would now be worth nearly $600. Not too many investments have such a return over such a short period of time. Some will have lost money, but a lot of people have made a LOT of money. It seems the ones who celebrate any bad news over bitcoin, have probably never had one.

I suspect these people trash-talked bitcoin back when it was a few bucks a coin, and are now pissed that people made out like bandits with such a massive return on their money. So any time anything happens they get all giddy because they don't feel quite as dumb. Until the price goes up again.

Agreed. MtGox going bust is comparable to a bank going bust, a bank that was running a giant scam and under the control of a bunch of incompetents who are now very likely to wind up in jail for fraud.

But just because Northern Rock went belly up, didn't mean Sterling was finished. Bitcoin will bounce back just fine. MtGox wasn't even one of the big exchanges.

ManFromEurope
AFAIK, it was the "Transaction Malleability" error.

Transaction malleability has been known about for many years now. It was the fault of Mt. Gox's custom wallet implementation because it didn't take into account transaction malleability.

And if Bitcoin was going to crash and burn it would have done so by now, it's been nearly a week since Mt. Gox went down. In fact the price has been stable since they went down. It took a tiny little dive when the news of their collapse was first made public but it quickly recovered. Personally I would have expected it to drop much more than it did but apparently Bitcoin is more resilient than even I would have predicted. Most of the damage was actually done when Mt. Gox first disabled withdrawals. Confirmation of their insolvency was hardly even felt by the market... I guess people already knew what was coming when they disabled withdrawals.

James1982

ManFromEurope
But.. but... this can't be happening! Crypto-Cash was sooo supposed to be secure!

Oben Source!
"Nobody" (well.. somebody, obviously) found that error before this crash?


Well, to be sincere: I am not too suprised that someone found a flaw in this. Did you ever see error-free code before?

Uh, yea... the currency is secure. Nobody broke "into bitcoin"

Would you say the US dollar wasn't secure because Paypal gets hacked?

Mt gox is simply an exchange, they don't own or manage bitcoin. If you weren't trusting Mtgox to deal with your money and bitcoins, you were at zero risk of loosing your coins.

You are wasting your time with these philistines. They are stamping their feet going "I WAS RITE I WAS RITE" and have no clue.

It's funny to watch.

I don't see how this could be an inside job. The bitcoins are only worth 500 million if someone was willing to buy them for cash and if that were the case whomever bought them would be a colossal idiot. I am open to any explanations as to why I am wrong in thinking this. I think they were crushed by the powers that be.