E X C I T I N G B R E A K T H R O U G H
Hey There GOX Community,
Hope all are happy and well.
I for one ferociously believe in GOX and am standing by it well into its deserved glory.
I've been thinking about ways we can ignite a buzz around the coin and really give it some much needed integrity. Fortunately Mt.Gox have recently launched the ability for users to verify their BTC balance as of the site going down. This could spark the very thing we've been waiting for - a way to formally distribute GOX without the need to request users' private information.
Trends in the market so far, coupled with the desperate behaviours surrounding Mt.Gox, would indicate we need to be careful with this approach. If we opened the doors to such a process too soon, people would claim and dump at a rapid rate (as we've learnt all to well) - this would obviously crash the market and create an unfair situation for the many GOX holders who didn't get to the exchange in time. However if we use Auroracoin's model as an example, we could release claims in waves whilst accepting verification ASAP.
By setting dates in the future for people to look forward to, we'd create a growing buzz and healthy balance of supply and demand, whilst simultaneously instilling confidence in the community that action is underway. This all would come at a time when Mt.Gox has confirmed retrieval of 200,000 BTC, thus breathing some value back into Mt.Gox holdings without diminishing the need for GOX.
The final problem in the puzzle comes in the form of properly verifying users' Mt.Gox balances by way of the new facility mentioned above. Let's explore our options. A screen grab can be too easily faked and thus is completely insufficient. A video screen capture from initial homepage load, to input of details, to balance results would be more difficult to counterfeit, but could still be faked by the more savvy cheater, while its verbosity and lack of formality will likely have many questioning the professionalism of GOX. Obviously the surest way for the devs to verify would be for users to provide them with their login details, but this encroaches on private information and would be way too much to ask from an already cautious community - on top of that, the devs have made it quite clear that they see such an approach as ethically defunct.
We need something that's simple, doesn't require Mt.Gox account credentials, and that instills confidence in the community that GOX has the tools and integrity to take on such an important and sensitive task.
How about this! There is a company called Easytimestamping (www.easytimestamping.com):
"Easytimestamping is the easiest way to apply a trusted timestamp on your files, so that you can demonstrate with a 100% certainty that your file existed at a precise date and time and has never been modified since.
For copyright protection (documents, music, photographs...), insurance claims or any other situation where legal proof of existence is required.
easytimestamping.com uses the exact same technology that banks and governments are using to secure their transactions, but for the first time, they are available to everybody in a super easy web application.”
The great thing is this functionality extends to taking a snapshot of a website, Mt.Gox balance page included. All you have to do is download their extension for Google Chrome, sign in to Mt.Gox, click the Easytimestamping icon and save the resulting PDF.
“All timestamps are issued by I.CA: Qualified Certification Authority accredited in the EU and in the Trusted list of Certification Service Providers.”
This is the silver bullet we've been waiting for! By implementing such a provable, secure and simple method we can take GOX where it's destined to go. But we have to act fast! GOX is in danger of falling out of view and becoming old news - people won’t bother checking up on developments because they’ve already done that and GOX didn’t offer them the water tight solution they were hoping for.
This is what people want and what we've never been able to give them. Now we can. Now is the time. Mt.Gox is still an unsolved mess, GOX is the only available aid and formal balance verification has just been released. Confidence in the coin will soar, profits will go through the roof, miners will flock, and GOX will shine out as a bastion of all that is good about crypto!!!
To speed things along for the devs I've put together a draft statement, which would need to be released to the public if the idea were to be implemented. I'm more than happy to help with this, but most importantly it’s something the devs need to take on as an official process. If you think this idea has worth, please let the devs know. If you think you can help, let the community know. If your support is better placed elsewhere, like creating a subreddit, helping with exchange votes, promoting the coin, then get to it and let us all know of your progress.
This is a game changer for GOX. It’s time to suit up, rally the troops and get GOX to the people who need it most.
I very much look forward to your thoughts…
******* THIS IS JUST A DRAFT - IT HAS NOT AS YET BEEN OFFICIALLY ADOPTED BY THE DEVS *******
The Future of MtGox CoinWe have now devised a sure-fire method by which all those who lost BTC in Mt.Gox can claim their equivalent balance in MtGox Coin. The time has come for all of us to win back our lost money.
MtGox Coin will be released in three waves, giving many more people an opportunity to claim. The 750,000 GOX that represent the missing BTC will be split into three lots of 250,000 GOX, which will be distributed to claimants as of three milestone dates.
Before claimants can receive their GOX they must verify their Mt.Gox BTC balance with us, which up until now was a process fraught with problems. As we stated in our original posts we want nothing to do with Mt.Gox Co. Ltd. and we consider the information regarding its users private and confidential. After all that’s happened it’s not right for us to start asking for passwords and user databases and it’s down right abhorrent for us to use a stolen database. The only information we would ever need is a verified Mt.Gox balance and we’ve found a way for this to happen - 100% provable, secure and simple.
Recently Mt.Gox has allowed users to verify their account balance as of the point the site went down. By using a trusted service called Easytimestamping, Mt.Gox users can create a PDF certificate of their balance which can be submitted to us as proof. Have a read of the company’s mission statement and check out their website to see for yourself:
"Easytimestamping is the easiest way to apply a trusted timestamp on your files, so that you can demonstrate with a 100% certainty that your file existed at a precise date and time and has never been modified since.
For copyright protection (documents, music, photographs...), insurance claims or any other situation where legal proof of existence is required.
easytimestamping.com uses the exact same technology that banks and governments are using to secure their transactions, but for the first time, they are available to everybody in a super easy web application.”The great thing is this functionality extends to taking a snapshot of a website, Mt.Gox balance page included. All you have to do is download their extension for Google Chrome, sign in to Mt.Gox, click the Easytimestamping icon and save the resulting PDF.
“All timestamps are issued by I.CA: Qualified Certification Authority accredited in the EU and in the Trusted list of Certification Service Providers.”This is the silver bullet we’ve all been waiting for! Here’s how it’s going to work.
Phase 1 - 21st April 2014 (actual date TBA)Claimants have from now until 18th April
(actual date TBA) to verify their balance with us using Easytimestamping (instructions below). As of 21st April
(actual date TBA) 250,000 GOX will be distributed to claimants according to the value of their verified Mt.Gox Balance. Any unclaimed GOX will be carried forward to the next Phase.
Phase 2 - 19th May 2014 (actual date TBA)Verification will reopen from 28th April
(actual date TBA) and new claimants will then have until 16th May
(actual date TBA) to submit their Easytimestamping verification to us. As of 19th May
(actual date TBA) 250,000 GOX (plus unclaimed GOX from Phase 1 should it be required) will be distributed to new claimants according to the value of their verified Mt.Gox Balance. Any unclaimed GOX will be carried forward to the next Phase.
Phase 3 - 16th June 2014 (actual date TBA)Verification will reopen from 26th May
(actual date TBA) and new claimants will then have until 13th June
(actual date TBA) to submit their Easytimestamping verification to us. As of 16th June
(actual date TBA) 250,000 GOX (plus unclaimed GOX from Phase 1 & 2 should it be required) will be distributed to new claimants according to the value of their verified Mt.Gox Balance. Any unclaimed GOX will be distributed according to the Unclaimed GOX Procedure described below.
Unclaimed GOX Procedure - 23rd June 2014 (actual date TBA)By this time we think people have had a fair and adequate opportunity to make their claim. Believers in GOX and bastions of crypto should now be rewarded and that’s exactly what we’ll do. Unclaimed GOX will be distributed in the following way.
- 70% to be split evenly amongst already registered claimants.
- 15% to be rewarded to proponents of crypto who represent the antithesis of Mt.Gox, including developers, activists, and up and coming crypto companies.
- 10% to a charity decided by a vote of the community.
- 5% to the core developers who surely by now will have earned it
Instructions for Using Easytimestamping- Download Google Chrome if you don’t have it
- Go to www.easytimestamping.com
- Click “Try it now” to get 5 FREE timestamps (otherwise buy 20 timestamps for €10 with PayPal) and sign in using Google, Facebook, Linkedin or Flickr
- Click “timestamp” on the top menu
- Click “Timestamp web pages” on the left menu
- Follow the link to the Chrome Web Store to install the extension (do NOT logout of Easy Timestamping)
- Go to www.mtgox.com
- Sign in with your Mt.Gox account details
- Click the Easy Timestamping icon in the top right corner of the browser
- Select “Certify screenshot of whole page”
- Once the process completes, download the resulting PDF to your computer, then backup to several safe places
- DO NOT MAKE ANY ALTERATIONS TO THE PDF
- Email the PDF to [email protected] summarising the BTC balance and providing a GOX address for your payment
- You will receive a confirmation email soon after
- Wait for the upcoming Phase
- ENJOY YOUR GOX
Note: Careful not to use the “Paste and Match Style” shortcut (PC - Ctl+Shift+V; Mac - Cmd+Shift+V) as it will trigger Easy Timestamping and waste one of your free credits.
Please understand that from now on we cannot pay any GOX claims to those who have not submitted verification.
Exciting times lie ahead for MtGox Coin. We hope you’ll join us for what will be a landmark in crypto history.
******* THIS IS JUST A DRAFT - IT HAS NOT AS YET BEEN OFFICIALLY ADOPTED BY THE DEVS *******