A cross-post from this Reddit thread: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1w6wgl/again_mtgox_hits_1000/ That thread contains a link to the following story: http://theblogchain.com/2014/01/24/mtgox-is-mtvesuvius-the-full-story/ At time of writing this post: MtGox: 1,003 BTC-e: 822 Bitstamp: 819 Volume percentages for today: (https://bitcoinaverage.com/markets.htm#USD-nomillibit) MtGox: 35% BTC-e: 28% Bitstamp: 27% Percentage totals do not add up to 100% due to trades at other exchanges.
Best quote from the thread: "Mt.Gox ''dollars'' are not real dollars. Just Mt.Gox funny money." And the reality: "This website shows all the BTC withdrawls from Gox that are more than 2hrs old. Right now its showing over ten thousand BTC in limbo. This will not end pretty." http://skanner.net/MtGox/mtgox_tx.php
And the explanation why this is happening: "It makes all the sense. People need to get out of Mt. Gox. The only way out is BTC. Each BTC becomes ticket out of Mt. Gox. Other exchanges are solvent and there is no added 'feature' in those BTC. BTC in Mt. Gox are worth gold. USD is worth 50% or less on Mt. Gox. Euros and JPY users are making a killing on arbitrage."
Pekelo, it sounds like you know this situation far better than me. What I know: There is a delay in USD withdrawals from Mt Gox What I am interested in finding out When you say (or quote someone saying) that "Euros and JPY users are making a killing on arbitrage", does this mean that there is no delay in withdrawing Euros and JPY from Mt Gox? If so, what's the rationale with delayed withdrawals in USD, but not EUR or JPY? Also, what's stopping everyone who wants USD from withdrawing in EUR or JPY and just doing the conversion into USD elsewhere?
The story in short: The DHS closed a bank account for Gox with I think 5 million bucks and banned them to deal with US costumers in dollars, because they didn't have the money transfering licence. (or something like that) This was back in November I think... They were still able to send out dollars, but in a very limited way, like 1 costumer per day. So basicly the time limit for getting back your deposit in US dollars went infinite. But you could get it out in BTC quick, in Euros in a few days and in Yen quite fast. So technically there was an opportunity for arbirtage there, although I am not clear on the Gox rules about getting funds in yen instead of dollars. Japanese costumers with bank accounts had no problem of withdrawing, but I am not sure how they were able to transfer for friends or others. Anyhow, Gox isn't communicating so costumers are getting nervous and since it is possible to get out in BTC, they are buying it (pushing up the price) and transferring it out. It looks like finally Gox is imploding. People were greedy, the writing was on the wall, they should have left Gox months ago, but the higher dollar prices kept them there until now (which is possibly the very end). Bottomline is; this was caused because Gox refused to deal with the US ban and get the necessary licences. They should just go back to dealing magic cards like they used to do...
Best quote of the day: "Gox is like that chick you know is crazy but giver her the D anyway because she's hot. Now you find out she has aids.....and stole your dog."