(6:39:17 PM) *Blitzboom*: http://gigaom.com/2013/08/19/feds-seized-2-9m-in-bitcoin-funds-from-mt-gox-court-docs-show/
(6:39:59 PM) *Blitzboom*: MagicalTux: good thing we hear this from the media, and not you guys
(6:40:13 PM) *Blitzboom*: now everybody is going to be very calm about this i'm sure
(6:41:55 PM) *Blitzboom*: though i'm sure mtgox has at least 29k BTC even if it didn't have the cash
(6:42:01 PM) *AnonX*: god
(6:42:56 PM) *AnonX*: Reminds me of when the DOJ cracked down on online poker
(6:45:36 PM) *Blitzboom*: MagicalTux: can we hear something substantial now on this?
(6:45:40 PM) *Blitzboom*: cat's out of the bag
(6:45:43 PM) *Blitzboom*: do you have the money or no
(6:46:43 PM) *Blitzboom*: i mean, if you said you have 90% of the money you owe, then even that would be an improvement to the current spread if it's to be believed
(6:46:51 PM) *Blitzboom*: that would be only 10% spread
(6:46:55 PM) *MagicalTux*: Blitzboom: we cannot comment on this
(6:47:10 PM) *Blitzboom*: you can't comment on whether or not you are solvent?
(6:47:21 PM) *MagicalTux*: We can't comment on the legal actions in the US
(6:47:28 PM) *dust-otc*: MagicalTux: as in, compelled by the government not to comment, or advised by your own lawyers not to comment?
(6:47:32 PM) *Blitzboom*: can you comment on your solvency?
(6:47:53 PM) *dust-otc*: Blitzboom: Roger Ver can comment on solvency, apparently
(6:47:53 PM) *Blitzboom*: can you pay out the people you owe?
(6:47:54 PM) *MagicalTux*: I could comment on the fact that our income since April is around 8 million USD
(6:48:14 PM) *MagicalTux*: (anyone seeing trading volume can compute that one)
(6:48:31 PM) *Blitzboom*: all i'm asking is, do you have the money to pay everyone's balance?
(6:48:38 PM) *dust-otc*: MagicalTux: no, they could estimate your revenue, not income
(6:49:02 PM) *MagicalTux*: dust-otc: our transparency reports show the costs of running mtgox, and it hasn't changed much
The government didn't seize Bitcoins, they seized USD.
But your general idea cannot work either. Bitcoin is _primarily_ a zero trust system, the vast majority of the system's rules are autonomously validated by all the participating full nodes. Straight up reassigning coin would require changing the Bitcoin software _everywhere_, not just winning in a consensus algorithim.
The Byzantine Generals problem only comes into play when deciding transaction _ordering_, since in our universe ordering can't exist as a simple decentralized function. Moreover, the ordering work is cumulative to make it jamming resistant. The consensus can't undo a little piece of ordering in the past and leave the rest alone, changing any of the past requires rewriting all the future consensus as well.
[Edit: I'm sad you deleted your post. The misleading title making you think they seized USD wasn't interesting, but I think pointing out that your idea to simply retake stolen coin isn't as easy as you thought was substance for an interesting discussion]
They seized these $2.9M months ago, but this re-hashing of the news is causing a run on the money: people are frantically buying bitcoins on MtGox to transfer them out of MtGox (since dollars withdrawals have been somewhat delayed and generally very slow to execute). This is pushing the exchange rate to 120 USD at MtGox, instead of ~100 USD as seen on other exchanges.
Doesn't this arbitrage play work the other way around? Unless you are saying, since money is so difficult to get out of Mt Gox, people are buying coins there, transferring and selling them (at a loss) on other exchanges where withdrawals are faster?
[+] [-] dwaltrip|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] speeder|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CoreSet|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] runeks|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] unknown|12 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] nullc|12 years ago|reply
But your general idea cannot work either. Bitcoin is _primarily_ a zero trust system, the vast majority of the system's rules are autonomously validated by all the participating full nodes. Straight up reassigning coin would require changing the Bitcoin software _everywhere_, not just winning in a consensus algorithim.
The Byzantine Generals problem only comes into play when deciding transaction _ordering_, since in our universe ordering can't exist as a simple decentralized function. Moreover, the ordering work is cumulative to make it jamming resistant. The consensus can't undo a little piece of ordering in the past and leave the rest alone, changing any of the past requires rewriting all the future consensus as well.
[Edit: I'm sad you deleted your post. The misleading title making you think they seized USD wasn't interesting, but I think pointing out that your idea to simply retake stolen coin isn't as easy as you thought was substance for an interesting discussion]
[+] [-] mrb|12 years ago|reply
http://bitcoincharts.com/markets/
[+] [-] snake_plissken|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Centigonal|12 years ago|reply
[+] [-] create_account|12 years ago|reply