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BitCoin Exchange BitFloor Shuts Down
In an amusing development, one of the key alternative BitCoin exchanges, BitFloor, has just announced it is forced to shut down immediately. It is amusing, because one of the primary reasons attributed by the BTC pundits for the recent crash from $260 to $50 was errors and faults in the primary bitcoin exchange MtGox. Well, with alternative exchanges forced to shut down, this may mean the only "faulty" marketplace will sees it monopoly power increase further. It is also ironic because as BitFloor disclosed it "can no longer provide the same level of USD deposits and withdrawals as we have in the past." Whatever happened to decentralized, and unencumbered by legacy fiat currencies?
The Verge has some more:
Bitcoin exchange BitFloor is closing its doors, halting trading and announcing that it will return everyone’s funds. In an announcement on its main site, the company’s founder, Roman Shtylman, says that "due to circumstances outside [BitFloor’s] control" it "must cease all trading operations indefinitely." More specifically, BitFloor says that because its US bank account is closing it won’t be able to provide the same level of dollar deposits and withdrawals that it has been up to this point. The news comes after weeks of DDoS attacks and technical problems at leading exchange Mt. Gox and a roller coaster ride of price fluctuations that saw Bitcoin tank from a high of over $200 back down to a low below $70. The news was reported by The Next Web.
Back in September, BitFloor was hit with a $250,000 theft after an attacker got access to an unencrypted backup set of keys for the exchange’s wallet — the software through which people (and organizations) access and transfer their coins. The exchange managed to get back online within a few weeks, with Shtylman announcing his intention to repay the stolen funds.
Overall, BitFloor is tiny compared to Mt. Gox — it does less than four percent of that exchange’s trading volume — but it represented an important alternative in the highly concentrated market. At this point it’s still unclear what exactly happened with BitFloor’s US bank account that required such a speedy exit, but a Reddit user points out that the exchange is registered with FinCEN — the US Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network — indicating that everything was seemingly above board with the US government. We’ve reached out to Bitfloor for comment on what precipitated the closure, and will update if and when we hear back.
In other news, and from the main, and apparently only remaining BitCoin exchange we get:
- Dear Mt. Gox customers. We are currently experiencing a downtime and will update ASAP. Apologies for the delay.
With the electronic market in limbo, at least demand for physical BitCoins appears to be solid to quite solid... Oh wait.
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There is an OTC market, just not as liquid as exchanges. There's also a few exchanges in developement to compete with Mt Gox.
but it seems to be extremely easy for .gov to shut these things down! Just shut down the exchange's bank account, because they control all bank accounts!
O the irony!! the outside the system currency doesn't work because it needs the system...
Mt Gox is based in Japan. As long as the server and bank accounts used lie outside US jurisdiction then the FINCEN regulations mean nothing.
"lie outside US jurisdiction"
Just like lets say Suisse bank account holder's names. Oh wait.
"announcing that it will return everyone’s funds"
What a bunch of retarded amateurs!
BitFloor bit the dust.
#BitTheDustCoin
In other news, BeanieBabyFloor will also be closing its doors...because nobody gives a shit!
Comparing BTC to beanie babies.
LOL
At least I can give my daughter a Beanie Baby
"Here, darling, in my (empty) hand is a Bitcoin. You can take it and spend it nowhere".
Apples, Oranges.
At any rate, what appears to have happened to BFL is their Bank decided to stop doing business with them. They will be closing their accounts and refunding money. This is less suck than previous closures some of which resulted in seizures.
It is a risk. And it will continue to happen. If you're stupid enough to put all your money on an exchange, that's your mistake. The same applies to MFG/PFG/etc.
They're going to return everyone's funds... at what price, $260?
If you are trading, you'll probably have some USD and some BTC in your account. In that case, you probably already have your BTC by now, since most people have already taken that back. The USD you will get back as they process the wires and draw it all down.
Provided nobody gets scammed in this (a risk), everyone gets back what they have. Most people don't keep much money on any single exchange anyway, because this isn't the first time it's happened. Won't be the last, either. Cost of doing business I guess.
beanie babies are stupid.
on the other hand, tulip bulbs are a very real, useful & tangible asset class.
Plant 'em. Play catch, Stack 'em. Eat 'em.
Just last year they were going for $1.22 a ton. Now they're at $1.90 a ton!!!
(I got 2 TONS!)
There's no topside limit on this baby. I'm Set for LIFE!
Get in before the real wave kicks in!
No no no. Shares in the Mississippi Company are where you need to be. They are backed by the French government afterall!
RIGHT, beanie babies have intrinsic value whereas bitcoins do not. So silly.
2 things....nothing is outside this us's jurisdiction...and secondly are the returning funds being returned in dollars or bit coins..and as i type this the ebay guy is saying that bitcoin is a disruptive process that will be taken care of soon...
Oh, well, back to "Magic the Gathering"...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt.Gox
Where the heck is fonestar when you need him? Someone has to tell us plebes what all this really means.
DaddyO
You really dont see how the theft of $250k+ might be a fatal loss for such small players?
Really?
There are some big players backing alternate currencies, a few of them billionares, as I understand it. They are not going to let bitcoin and its better cousins become bitdust.
lol
The owner left an unencrypted backup of the wallet on the server.... Yeah, I'm sure it was malicious hackers.
Thats like owning a bank and telling your buddies, "Yeah, tonight I will 'accidentally' leave the back door open, the vault open, and the cash lying there. Hope its still there in the morning!"
Rumor has it that fonestar can no longer afford an Internet connection after the BTC crash. Market commentary is dependent upon its pundits remaining solvent, unless they have the economy held hostage with derivatives.
"Market participation is dependent upon its participant's remaining solvent, unless they have the economy held hostage with derivatives.".
Jack, I changed it a little and it's one of the most brilliant writings I've ever read. Thanks, man.
What I see is a great idea swimming in a sea of sharks!
As long as the FED or any other CB has a vested interest in protecting their fiat currencies and the system that allows them, all bets are off for a competing mechanism of currency.
As long as there are rooms full of "hackers" with marching orders to disrupt any competeing currency, this type of outcome is certain...
DaddyO
Well, well
How about starting an application that can be installed easily and provide for physical money to Bitcoin electronic money only.
In other words restrict bitcoin payments to physical gold coin.
What happens?
The Bitcoin dealer only has a physical stash of Gold, he does not need a bank account.
The bitcoin exhange rate with Gold is what matters, the reference to fiat currency is erased.
Bitcoin and Gold unite so that technically bitcoin becomes the only way to send physical Gold from one place to another, without bank account. So Gold never is referenced to fiat and bitcoin is never referenced to fiat. Bitcoin become the ally of Gold by allowing a secure anonymous Transfer of Gold from one place to other, bypassing the central banks and the banks. The problem of cost of transportation of Gold solved, the problem of corrupt banking system and control solved.
Again the bitcoin dealer has Gold as form of money only, no bank account. You design an application so that many people can become bitcoin dealers in precious metals.
If you want to move your Gold from 1 place to the other, you load up your Gold to bitcoin, next you travel. On the other side of the transaction you go to teh local bitcoin-Gold dealer and you get your Gold at the other side of the plane travel. Not traced, no link to banks at no point. The only thing you need is the internet not to be shut down.
People who want to do the same thing in a reverse flow do the same. The issue is interlinking the network of anonymous gold to bitcoin dealers.
So in place of a paper gold account,
i would have an electronic gold account?
See ripple.com
Ripple's distributed open banking network idea is interesting, but
- including gold as a currency seems intractable for the same reasons gold is not traded as a currency on existing FX platforms
- it's not actually open, "yet"
- platform is polluted by inclusion of and emphasis on a proprietary currency "XRP" which the VC-backed company behind ripple, OpenCoin, intends to profit from via seignorage
So long as fiat exchanges also exist this will create massive arbitrage of btc vs fiat vs tangibles. Btc needs to be limited to tangibles only to remain valid so that no fiat exchanges are used. So long as fiat exchanges are exposed to the btc system, no one else gets to play.
What am i going to do with the shed size digital miner that was on order and coming to my house?
.
Does that thing hook-up to my X-box?
I finally got Mt.Gox to stop kicking me a 502:BadGateway message. My BitCoins are still worth $92 a piece, apparently. I just can't..... um...... GET TO THEM right now.
I'm not sure we're going to have to wait for governments to shut down BitCoin, as was my original fear. I'm pretty sure the internet hackers and the DDOS attackers are going to accomplish it much more quickly.
..... and then there was only one. The original one. Mt.Gox, where it all started. Besieged on all sides, realizing the forces that want it dead are far more numerous and powerful than those who want it to live. Under the waves it went. And was heard from no more.
I need coffee.
I'm sorry about your loss.
Yeah, me too. Me too. This might be the best $500 I ever spent. It's like have a front row seat to watch Mike Tyson beat up my old Computer Science professor. I've already got blood splatter on me and the old Prof. is looking a little wobbly in the knees.
+1
We are taking a beating on the vanguard.
So, it's kind of like having all your money, gold and silver too, in a safe deposit bank but the bank is closed....temporarily? It's there, your gold is worth $1,400/oz and your dollars are worth, er, crapola, but you can't get to it to pay your bills or buy food. What's the saying? "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."
Blotto,
You'll be able to do a lot of math equations !!!
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/
"Lie outside US jurisdiction"
Please visit Europe's biggest EURO Bitcoin exchange and say that again:
https://bitcoin-24.com/more
Our Service is momentarily not available.
1. All funds (EUR, USD, PLN, GBP & Bitcoins) are safe.
2. All withdrawals will be gradually processed chronologically from another bank account.
3. The Polish authority closed our Bank account in Poland.
4. Our lawyers are working with high pressure on a solution.
https://www.bitstamp.net/
Appears to be working however...
bitstamp working with new bank account details in Slovenia. That's the EU country that is about to go bankrupt, right?
Don't worry. At most yuou will lose 40%.
And Mt.Gox is located in Tokyo, Japan. Which is soon to be irradiated to the point of fatal levels thanks to the blessing that is Fukushima.
counter party risk, bitchez! And now back to our regularly scheduled boating accidentz…
tee hee
Are you implying that japans financial system is outside the treasuries jurisdiction??? It may be time to wake up
There IS NOT a single square millimeter on this entire globe that "lies outside US jurisdiction". If you don't realize this simple fact, you are not paying attention.
You mean they can get to my stash buried in Antarctica surrounded by Emperor Penguins ?
China. Russia. US tries but it still can not.
Oh yeah, tell that to Kim Dot Com...
Sorry for being a semantic nazi but it´s not Mt Gox as in Mount Gox (as opposed to Fort Knox) but MtGox as in Magic the Gathering Online eXchange, a bunch of nerds from a Magic the Gathering auction website started MtGox as a hobby project some years ago.
"Mt Gox is based in Japan. As long as the server and bank accounts used lie outside US jurisdiction then the FINCEN regulations mean nothing."
Wrong... One American drug dealer selling his cash to a "bitcoin buyer" on the street then gets transferred to mtGOX. Then gets transferred to cash and wired to an offshore account being watched by the IRS in the Bahamas. From there it goes back to the exchange to bitcoin. Then to a Bitcoin Wallet in Colombia. From there a bitcoin transfer purchases a very discounted commercial real estate building in Cyprus. From there the bitcoin goes to Russia and is transferred to mtGOX and wired to a Russian Bank account.
US Drug Wholesaler cashed out
US based cash to bitcoin buyer got a great deal buying coin at a discount
Bahamas shell of a Cartel got the ability to launder money
Cartel Boss got payment
Cartel Boss Accountant made a "legal" investment with clean Bitcoin to Cyprus where he bought a 3 million euro commercial real estate deal at 1/2 price! From a desperate Russian Businessman
Cartel Boss Laundered his money and doubled it Tax free plus has a large income monthly from legitimate commercial rental income sent to a "Very Clean" Swiss bank account
Russian Businessman sent money to his business to cover expenses.
TAX PAID ZERO
Yes that is the real story here. Not sure what Tyler's point was...
...that he's either deliberately ignorant or woefully misinformed on Bitcoin?
One gold bug I knew insisted that gold was worth more than platinum, always was and always will be. 1 ounce gold > rest of universe put together.
he was spot on, how come you don’t get it?
The currency still works fine. The "outside" paper money system is just needed for trading against paper money. Well duh.
You only need a Forex service to make speculative trades. The original model of purchasing bitcoins from individuals still exists. Of course, unless you can find someone with a large hoard of them, you can only buy a few at a time.
I don't think most people really want decentralization, they prefer the ease and convenience of central authority, centralized services.
'Most' people want what teevee tells them they want.
Haha! bitcoin!
so true achmachat....i don't know the total value in usd bitcoin is worth, but i am guessing that the boys at the fed could buy and sell this market from head to toe in the blink of an eye. offshore acct....check. bitcoin acct....check. ben we are ready when you are.
Is it safe to say there is nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide yet?
Every alternatives to Fiat is getting demolished.
This is the obvious prelude to a currency collapse.
They are closing all the exits,
they are about to pull the trigger.
Hence the need for barter, coinage, neighborly agreements on trading skills / services local-only
Hey lets go over to your house, and sometimes we can go over to my house.
Winklevossed!!
Doubly so!
Do you think they sold at the high, or will sell before the cash is seized by the bank mafia?
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/as-big-investors-emerge-bitcoin-gets-ready-for-its-close-up/
I see a trend of colloquial profanity being created in our lifes...
You've been Winklevossed - Winklevossed, adjective, describing gross incompetence wrapped in arrogance and a sense of entitlement because you've been fotunate enough to be borned into wealth yet having no redeeming personal qualities other than you can row a boat.
Bernake me - Bernake, exclamation, expressing anger, annoyance, contempt, impatience, indulged spending fantasies.
Why use BitTardCoins at ALL? Why not just buy gold and silver instead?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZS2Z19yTuPI
Well, suppose you have a few hundred dollars/euro/pounds in your bank and say more silver than you can carry stashed away. The half kilo of silver you could buy and sell before the next bills come in will not likely make you money, the way things are going you will lose money in the short term.
If you keep it in the bank you make no interest.
Invest it in paper investments, you make no money.
Keep it in cash, it is safer than the bank, but you make no money.
Try to call btc at a bottom, and sell higher than you bought a couple weeks later and you may make enough money to pay the next bill.
In short, Why invest in BTC? -> make money off the volatility. Have enough common sense to know when to buy and when to sell.
It sounds so easy!
I think I am going to get into this common sense method of buying, selling, and making extra cash!
Did you think that all those barrow boy traders were rocket scientists?
I guess we figured out what the washed-out 90's day-traders are now doing.
Dissing bitcoin?
Still no white flag?
~~~
Y'all sound like the morons who are still trying to defend the '9/11 Commission Report'...
I am happy to call a conspiracy theory a theory, and a fact a sales pitch.
+1 The e-trade baby is now fully invested in bitcoin :D
+1 buy low sell high, how could I have missed it!!
/sarc
Come on man. Everyone of you are all for bitcoin being the next currency. If bitcoin can go from 200+ to 50 bucks in a day, it will NEVER be accepted as an alternative. You can trade it and make some cash just like every other market but thats not the point of bitcoin. Its suppose to be a currency people can trust. Volatility like we have seen will never allow it to last longterm. It's a fad and nothing more. Smart money will play with all of you then decide to blow the mother fucker up when they are bored.Just because they can.
THere is a reason not to buy at $200. We saw it fall to $50, because that was the baseline, given its use as a means of remote payments. Many predicted its demise after the fall, but it is still here, going fairly strong, growing 5% per day. You buy at the baseline, and sell when the loonies join.
Abstraction- I am on bored with your style of taking advantage of movement. It is growing as you indicated but what happens when it crashes again? When its at the bottom will the volume be there or will people pull out because its too volatilte. It just reminds me of a penny stock. I am all for alternative currencies but bitcoin is not it imo. I just don't like the idea of not being able to hold a currency and leave everything I earned in life on 3 usb flash drives in 3 different banks in 3 different states.
For long term storage of wealth I am all for PM. So the '3 usb problem' is replaced by the 'more PM than I can carry problem.'
'I am on bored with your style of taking advantage of movement'
Ah well then be happy with PM in your safe and cash in the bank.
My reading of the baseline is a little more around $3, not even $30
Right.
Because timing the market is a piece of BitCake.
Spam, spam eggs and spam. Hey Gummy, your video aint getting any better.
+1 for words, desired -1 for harlem shake which I am sick of entirely but you keep the +1.
What you all are forgetting is that these probems all started when the us treasury started looking into bitcoin. The future is not chaos or the stone age. It is different and it is digital. Saddened by those who cant see it...
Until next time
Engineer
The future will be digital allright but it will be the SDR-based fully controllable and checkable new world currency, not Bitcoin. Let's call it the Globo, the successor to the Euro and the Amero.
They need to tax you to the hilt and Corzine/D-Boom you when they deem neccessary and follow all your transactions so they can see what you are up to.
Bitcoin doesn't give them any of that thus it must be destroyed.
The Winklevoss twins get CORZINED...
Let the lawsuits begin!
There is no central authority over the currency, so how are they gonna sue?
Having a legitimate claim never stopped them before.
After they got ZUCKERBERGED.
HAHAHAHAHA
They came for the Winklevoss twins.....and I said nothing.
... because I wasn't a cunty douchebag with an evil twin.
ROFL!
They row.
Who the fuck rows?
They deserve to get screwed again. Maybe we can get them seats next to some Newtown parents wherever they are going to be blown up next.
hahaha!!! Thank you for that!
As many of us have warned, the online exchangers will be attacked and closed.
The future lies in OTC exchanges.... and on Tor.
You really are shameless. Do you feel bad at all for encouraging ZH'ers to lose a lot of their "investment" capital on your stupid little coins?
If you take investment advice from a stranger on an internet forum, then you're an idiot.
Uhh ... even seekingalpo?
If anyone does anything but hoard PMs .... they're nuts !
I hoard dried legumes.
Good plan! ... making sure that your food will get fed.
So beans, rice and bullets are right out?
'If you take investment advice from a stranger on an internet forum, then you're an idiot.'
I'll pop down to HSBC then and ask where I should invest my money.
Who better to trust than professional money launderers, I mean, managers?
The judges who find them innocent. Can't get more trustworthy than a judge. Unless they are totally bent.
You have to be charged before you see a judge. Details, details.
You're just as fanatical. What if people were just experimenting with the techincal aspects of digital currency? Most ZHers are adults. Don't be so myopic about this as if anyone who is involved with BTC sold their house and convinced all their friends to sell their houses and put all their life savings into it. It's experimental, theoretical, digital, nascent, so it's something mainly early adopters bothered with and they can probably deal with the losses too.
The BTC discussion simply accelerated my doing due diligence. I will explore, contemplate and perhaps even act on anything the Statist fucks hate.
BTC fits the mold for a one world currency. I honestly think the statist fucks love it. Next all BTC owners can get RFID chipped and exchange their digital currency via wrist slaps. 2% transaction fee for wrist slap's and 3% for high 5's.
No. it lacks the most desireable of all traits CENTRALIZED CONTROL & MANIPULATION OF SUPPLY & DISTRIBUTION.
Mt. Gox.
All the price moves yanking suckers around have bene through centralized fiat exchanges – Fail.
+1 good thing no one else thought of that yet…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdadZ_KrZVw
trailer - In Time (Justin Timberlake, Olivia Wilde, Amanda Seyfried)
+1 !!!!
.
I read of one fellow who had sold his Porsche for bitcoins, I'd keep the car.
Xeno's been bearish since $9 and is thousands of IRR points behind.
I invested a lot in silver, now Im living off it, I am currently down. But I still choose to remain in silver. You are not in a position to judge investment unless you do so yourself. If you don't think bitcoin is going anywhere then short it.
No wait! I know this one!
If you think it is going down you should short it, right ?
You can’t short bitcoin – that requires a brokerage exchange with or without margin able to call up supply of btc to loan for the short. No one does that.
Well it was about time the weak minds were shaken out of here. It was getting crowded.
I miss the CAPTCHA.
Rule #8 if it’s your first night at fight club YOU HAVE TO FIGHT. Let suckers be shoved to the wood chippers.
Yes, the future is OTC, "distributed" exchanges and oh yeah Bitcoin ATMs:
http://bitcoin-otc.com/
http://localbitcoins.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJm7CtkfscY
Of course there are still plenty of "centralized" exchanges to choose from. These may have to move off shore in the near future if they want to survive under the existing Banking regime:
http://campbx.com/
http://tradehill.com/
I only invest in BTC as venture capital. Don't really care if I lose everything.
That's not good enough for ZH gold bugs. Even receiving a donation in bitcoin is shameful.
Yeah, I'm kind of surprised so many ZHer aren't willing to risk even a small amount on any one the new cryptocurrencies. Someday, they will become a mainstream form of payment. Maybe not BTC, maybe not today, but someday there will be an internet based currency, this is just how it begins.
Yeah, because if it's a bad idea, I should only invest a small amount.
-1 : no, they really won’t. Digital currencies will remain the store-tax-government realm of legalized currency, nothing else. All else will be tangible goods, barter, including gold & silver coins, for fair market value outside the rigged system.
@Debtonation
That's fine and good for you (seroiusly). However, most of the selling points of BTC have been shown to be nonexistent. Maybe once it matures, it could be an interesting payment processing system, but it will probably be co-opted by Ripple (which has VC funding). I'm waiting for the "I told you so" post....
"from the main, and apparently only remaining BitCoin exchange"
No.
btc-e was and is #2. Material error of fact.
Forever?
"If you don't hold it, you don't own it."
And it goes to follow,
"If you can't hold it, don't own it."
This is one of the most important rules to understand going forward.
The unequivocable rule that goes hand in hand with 'possession is 9/10ths of the law'.
IOW....if it's invisable, it aint there...
Good luck trying to own property or a company.
Never could have saw that one coming. [/snark]
Bitstamp next one to close?
That's what they get for not allowing HFT and denying Goldman preferred access to their servers.
Emergency! Print more bitcoins!
???
They ARE being created. 25 at a time, every (roughly) 7 minutes.
BITCOINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WINKLEVII!!!!!!!!!
I am hearing conflicting reports about this from Al Gore who said, and I quote, "It's my internet! Mine! Mine! Mine! And all the bitcoins too!"
Lazytown reference?
Go Gortacus!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportacus
BTC seems like a fun experiment but I still like the shiny stuff.
It's like magic - perhaps that's why it's the Magic The Gathering Online Exchange.