more miners getting hurt. is bitcoin mining as dangerous as coal mining? :eek: i hope gnode is alright...
sooo... mt gox, the primary liquidity center, was compromised. i'm no security expert by a longshot, but it sounds like nothing close to commercial grade security was in use at mt gox. the idea took off at light speed, and it looks like a spirited, enterprising hobbyist's experience and resources were eclipsed. it seems fair to note that while one BTC exchange was compromised as a commercial website, BTC's fundamental architecture as a p2p currency was not. ...if those two are extricable. i think they are. i chalk it up to a (still) extremely clever concept run by hobbyists, in its fledgling stages. i suppose maybe this is the terrible news i was waiting for... but i'd still like to see it shake out before i'd consider buying any BTC. i guess they're going to unwind the ledger and distribute it to the most trusted peers in the network? anyway the float is still out there, and anyone with industrial strength experience in internet security and exchange infrastructure who also has decent marketing sense might see an opportunity to snatch this liquidity (i guess ... ~6M BTC valued conservatively at $10-17.50 USD = $60-105M float). i still think BTC has enormous potential as an open source p2p currency. USD is to windows as BTC or another open source p2p currency ...could... be to Linux.
Yup. I don't keep any money in the exchanges. I transfer to them when its time to sell. Sell, then withdraw immediately.
is this a joke or serious ? edit: only recently familiar with what is posted here. no knowledge of bitcoins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1X6qQt9ONg
fascinating experiment, these bitcoins. yeah that's real. (i think) the mt gox exchange password db was hacked, and starting from the largest accounts downward, the hack executed market sell orders, chewed straight through the order book, then rapidly attempted to withdraw the accounts. or something along those lines.
Yup. It is an amazing experiment in free markets. I have been watching with a full on erection and popcorn.
is the supposition that the primary exchange founder hacked his clients to sell and withdraw their accounts? i haven't poured through the details, but it sounds like the concensus is that the gox hacker walked with about $1000. meanwhile, the gox exchange was transacting something like $500,000 USD of BTC per day. doesn't seem to add up.
Agree. Most likely a kid got in over his head. It is great that it didnt end up worse than it already has.