The Tangled Tale of Mt. Gox's Missing Millions

jfruh writes "What went wrong to produce the spectacular implosion of bitcoin repository Mt. Gox? Well, according to some preliminary investigation from the IDG News Service, pretty much everything. There was a lack of management oversight and 'culture,' the code running the site was a mess, and the CEO seemed more concerned about his plans for a 'Bitcoin cafe' than he was about his Japanese bank closing the company's account."

Shouldn't it be understood...

[TWX]

...that all scrip currencies are going to find themselves subject to attack from all sides? Wasn't it obvious that governments are going to have a problem with it due to a lack of ability to regulate/tax, banking systems are going to have a problem with it due to their not having a role in something that could be lucrative, and criminals are going to be interested in exploiting the lack of government oversight in order to either profit through its use or through outright theft?

A coworker previously had sang the praises of Bitcoin, but it sounded like he was approaching it from a stock market speculation angle, as in the more it grows the more he was interested. This wasn't long before it started making the news big-time, and like all bubbles, once everyone is involved it usually means that it's time to get out. And also like other bubbles, it has started experiencing the bursting that kills value.

Bitcoin is interesting, but for something so libertarian requires way too much third-party interaction in order to practically use it, and those third-party gatekeepers are the perfect targets.

Re:Shouldn't it be understood...

[gmuslera]

And if you don't want to rely in third-party gatekeepers, how most people will use it? In your phone? in your (for the majority, windows) pc? You can't use gatekeepers because a lot got hacked or just run with the coins, and you can't have them yourself because the most used platforms are ripe for external exploit, either making the user do something or just making popular good looking trojans.

And if that insecurity is not enough, having over that government sponsored weakened encryption algorythms and mandated backdoors don't help a lot.

We are still not ready for a distributed digital money in those terms.

Re:"Sight"? On slashdot?

[edibobb]

I tried to mod up, but it won't work (even though I have 15 mod points). Slashdot seems as competent as MtGox.

Re:"Sight"? On slashdot?

[Anonymous Coward]

Sorry - Slashdot gave out all the mod points to ACs like me. They are now mod point bankrupt,

I have no more sympathy for anyone

[oscrivellodds]

who has lost real money by "investing" in Bitcoins than I have for anyone who lost real money by "investing" in beany babies. Like my momma always told me, "stupid is as stupid does".

Re:Get your popcorn ready!

[arth1]

Bitcoin can't and won't survive without regulation, and all (most) countries have said they won't, so... Many a fool and his money shall soon part. ; ) it'll be interesting to watch. 500 million dollars go missing, and the funny thing is governments don't really seem to care that anti-government investors lost their ass. LOL

What's important to realize is that the dollars won't go missing. They're still around - they have just changed hands. And that seems to be the real purpose of Bitcoin - have real money change hand, and mostly to the early adopters and those who get out in time.

In itself, bitcoins have no value. The only value comes from what other values people exchange bitcoins for. It's a parasite economy that depends on non-bitcoin money for backing.

And it's irrelevant. Can we forget it soon, like we've forgotten other ponzi/pyramid/tulip schemes? It's not worth mentioning - let fools and crooks shift real money around between themselves. The losers will deserve it, and while the winners don't, they're not worth losing sleep over.