I wouldn't be worried about exit strategy. Just securing funds. As Eric has said in response to my questions, the worst that would happen to users is no more interest. But asking what happens if they're hacked is a great question.
I think they need to introduce some bounty campaigns in order to detect any backdoor(s) if present within their databases. And most importantly, trusting their staff members is vital to run an investment scheme where any miracle may happen anytime and the staff members doesn't run away with all the funds !
Technically, they have a bounty system: the hot wallet, :p.
I get where you're coming from, though. I'm personally less worried about site security than I am what they do if it's compromised. To me, it's like a bank: if the bank gets robbed, it doesn't affect me. I don't care about their security protocols, I just care about the end result for me, considering I have no say in how they run their business/secure it.
Has Eric answered to what the company would do IF they did get hacked and lost a large amount of users' bitcoins?
This is one of the frequently asked questions and I did answered it before.
Most of the users' coins were used to invest in our mining facility - FYI our second farm is currently under construction.
So they are in the form of bricks, cement, rein bars, steel sheets and silicon chips and plastic motherboards, they are physical therefore hacker-proof.
That is not to say that there aren't any risks.
There are still thieves, fire, earthquakes, aged transformer and Internet outage to worry about.
OK, and say that the mining farm was robbed of half its miners, or an earthquake destroyed everything. What would happen then?
We do have some contingency plans, but a catastrophe is a catastrophe, nobody knows what it is going to be like until it strikes. The most realistic one is that our exchange - which has been generating trickle of profit, will be big enough so we can use that profit to cover the loss of the mining facility.
The CEO did suggest that we should pay our users' money even if we have get jobs elsewhere - not sure how serious he is though.
That's for providing us with an honest answer. I think that I'll still continue to keep some of my BTC on your website. When you talk about exchange, are you referring to the exchange on haobtc or another one?
I didn't like their answer. They need a contingency plan in place. Any business prospectus has one, as it's the main thing an investor needs to know. If an asteroid hits their mining operation right now and decimates it, their answer is "we'll have to see what to do when that happens." That doesn't inspire confidence.
The thing is, if the companies claim that they'll reimburse everyone, they might not stick true to their word unless it's documented legally... and I doubt that haobtc fits that category. I guess it's all a measure of risk and reward.
This is why having a 3rd-party is monumental. For example, Coinbase. Also, having a major backing, as those investors won't let a company just walk away.
I thought I have made this clear already - It is
NOT that we don't want 3rd-party scrutiny. It is that we don't have that option. To be a little blunt, I don't know any insurance company, Chinese or foreign, that want to insure for a BTC mine and for a reasonable cost.
If anyone think I don't like the idea, they are barking at the wrong tree.
I for instance championed the idea of a BTC central bank that conducts irregular audits and reinforce best practice behaviors. The article is still online and with lots of angry comments, calling me statist and etc.
HaoBTC is not my own company. Getting anything done requires persuasion and consensus seeking. HaoBTC is a business, if I propose a project involving money spending, there is personal risk - what if the company pays a lot of money and users don't grow and the money gets wasted?
If you want that to happen, a more constructive way would be find out which insurer offer this kind of service and what are their rates, etc.