Hey crazy rabbit you have been around for a long time, why do you always come into threads like this being so incredible naive?
Here is a post from you from February:
I highly, highly, doubt Gox is going belly up. They handle an enormous volume both in trade and deposit/withdrawals. Obviously there is some sort of issue that needs to get solved. Maybe there is some sort of issue that only crops up with very large withdrawal volume. Either way, chill out. :-)
Seems you have not learned much. When stuff like this happens the correct response is always to act fast and be very aggressive. Everyone with money stuck on Stamp should really take the advice of smoothie and Nagel.
Don't confuse naive with supportive. I've had serious problems with Bitstamp in the past and they have resolved all of them with professionalism. The same was true for me with Gox. At the time, I had genuine reason to trust them and I generally play the devil's advocate on most issues.
That said- I did close the statement with: "Call your Lawyers". I would argue its more naive of you to think you have any recourse other than the legal system. They either come through on their promise, or you sue them.
So your idea is to act fast and be aggressive. Are you offering to hold Bistamps CEO's family hostage? EDIT: Aggressive AND productive. EDIT2: I toned down my own aggressive wording to contribute to a civil discussion.
Oh really? Maybe it's more of a strong indication that they have reason to worry the hacker might have been in the system earlier than they think, already sold bitcoins and was hoping to withdraw FIAT before being caught.
You must never have tried withdrawing from Bitstamp or you would know their KYC/AML routines are very strict. Do you really think a hacker who is sitting on 5m in Bitcoin would give up his identity to withdraw a little bit of fiat?
I withdraw all the time and I've gone through all the legal nonsense required for their KYC/AML routine. That said nothing in their routine is that difficult to fake. Passport Scan? Utility Bill? Government ID? Considering how easy those are to fake, you might be surprised to learn that getting a poor person in the former communist block countries to give you power of attorney on their bank account is easier then photocopying their ID.
Now, withdrawing $5 million in cash isn't something that would go unnoticed, but you're assuming that all they stole was those 18K BTC. How was Bitstamp supposed to know this for sure AT THE TIME THEY SUSPENDED SERVICE? For all they know, they might be approving fiat withdrawls for tens of thousands of FIAT across any number of fake bank accounts. Maybe Bitstamp has been bleeding for quite awhile now and they didn't know it? Maybe someone else's earlier hack on the system left them exposed to this newer, more impatient thief? The possibilities are endless and the right thing to do was to suspend everything pending a thorough review.
Also, not to mention- Smoothie and I have jousted on a number of occasions and I quite respect his/her opinion. That said- he/she is not Bitstamps legal council. I can't imagine a situation where anyone reasonable could support processing withdrawals while simultaneously being robbed. They did the right thing, even if it screws us the customer. They stopped everything, probably did a system snapshot, and called the police.
So yeah, hope for the best because you can't do a single damned thing about it at this point. But because I HAVE learned from my experience with Gox, I have ALSO already called my lawyer. So should you.
I can see your approach.
Note: I am a guy. Been confirmed multiple times in person by several users.
That is correct I am not Bitstamp's legal counsel.
When MTGOX was not allowing fiat withdraws in June 2013 I stopped using them immediately and moved to bitstamp and coin base.
I'm surprised in January/February you were supporting them saying this:
I highly, highly, doubt Gox is going belly up. They handle an enormous volume both in trade and deposit/withdrawals. Obviously there is some sort of issue that needs to get solved. Maybe there is some sort of issue that only crops up with very large withdrawal volume. Either way, chill out. :-)
They did not handle an enormous volume of withdraws for 8 months prior to your post. So for you to say that I have to agree it does sound naive and in fact plain wrong.
Your post above is a classic example of where you failed to understand the issues mtgox was having for months.
Any business that can't process withdraws (fiat) for months is hiding something. There were many tells including the huge price disparity on gox vs btce or bitstamp etc.
I even made my own personal prediction in January 2014 saying that there would be a big event that will break MTGOX.
I didn't need to know that there was insider trading or a hack or Mark pocketing coins to know that there was something truly wrong with MTGOX months before they went belly up. Whenever a company's claims conflict in what they do there is a good chance they are trying to hide something. In MTGOX's case it was pretty obvious they were hiding something for a long long time.
In May 2013 at the Inside Bitcoins conference in San Jose MTGOX was supposed to be a major sponsor of their free wifi or something and then when I got there it was if the conference organizers tried to remove MTGOX from every piece of advertising given their recent closure and seizure of accounts in the US.
Not far after that they stopped fiat withdraws completely. I'm sure there was some loop hole to get fiat out which that user STURLE used to get fiat in and out of gox to benefit from the high price, but it wasn't a fair playing field for all gox customers.
Bitstamp going down like this is a huge red flag for me. I will not be using Bitstamp for a very long time if ever. To lost 10+% of their total customer deposited bitcoins is unacceptable and anyone keeping money or coins there with them after they "reopen" (if they do) deserve to lose their funds as there are many risks to leaving them on there after such an event.
