Update: GLBSE closing doors
Dear Investors,
after paying the dividends for week 39.2012, GLBSE closed shop this week.
Like most of other investors and issuers, I was caught with my pants down: not only I most probably lost all what was left from Pirate (due to my BTC being diversified in different assets becoming less worth - or worthless - now), but also was left without information required to pay back my investors.
Personal Feelings (please skip this section if you only care to know about your money)I am following the various developments in the Bitcoin world with great interest and I sadly realize that its potential to establish a better world just failed.
So far, I regarded Bitcoin not only as yet another crypto-currency, but more as an instrument to form a better community. Better in a sense that we learned from the past mistakes our real world is suffering from and take our chance to prevent them. Getting in touch with Bitcoin initially as a miner, I felt I found the community I wanted to participate in - no wonder, most of us are geeks, and who would refuse to live in a geek's world?
Later, when I discovered the other Bitcoin sectors (lending and investing) I felt confirmed in my beliefs as I saw anonymous people trusting each other solely by their word of honor. At some point in time, an established lender asked me to help him out with some coins and I did: I gave some anonymous Internet guy coins with an equivalent fiat value enough to buy a new car, and got that coins back some days later. Only stupid would do this in the real world - for me this was the price to see if I found the community I was looking for. I want to believe that there is some world where people keep their word - and I prematurely thought I found it here.
I was wrong. Pirate broke his word of honor he gave to me. Folks I trusted before turned out to have lied and betrayed their investors (guaranteed deposits - my ass). Any non-mining related assets on GLBSE turned out to be directly or indirectly affected by BTCS&T. People start to establish exactly those toxic financial instruments that almost killed our real world economy just recently (CDOs anyone?). No, this is in no way better than the real world - contrary, it gives the dishonest one a better playground with maximized capabilities to rip off others.
GLBSE closing down is the last coffin nail for my Bitcoin engagement. I now lost everything and it somehow feels relieving to have a clear cut to say good bye. Alas, I am not going to leave without paying back my obligations.
Next StepsAt time of writing, the situation with GLBSE is fully unclear. There are plans to install some reclaim-codes based system to allow issuers direct dealings with the holders. This might require all of us to provide full ID documents and forgo our anonymity (I did already for the verification process). There might be a fully regulated GLBSE successor, where the assets can be traded, as well as a transition to some alternative trading platform.
Not sure how to deal with investors that do not want to sacrifice their anonymity, as there is currently no way to find out who owns what.
Until the dust settles, I am going to continue accounting the weekly dividends in the
spreadsheet and pay them out as soon as I have the required information.
Good luck to us all,
Zefir