What banks do the various exchanges use and how solvent are they?
Some banks in Europe are obviously going to be pretty shaky. I wonder if Gox's accounts in Japan are any better, or whether that is just as exposed since Japan is pretty linked to the west anyway.
Seeing as Bitcoin for many is part of an emergency store of wealth ready for problems with the various banking systems, and many are speculating, I thought it an important question.
Of course, the obvious is don't store more with the exchange than you plan to use for trading.
Bitcoins can be withdrawn with no fee, and adding back is confirmed in about an hour -- so there's no reason to store large amounts of coins at an exchange.
At one point in time Dwolla was claiming their customer funds were kept in FDIC (and/or NCUA) insured accounts. They no longer have that assurance. But that was one way to have fiat funds ready to put into play (as deposits to the exchanges was pretty quick) yet not have any risk while you weren't trading.
With BitFloor, you can ACH out for free, and then deposit cash to add funds. There that is one way to keep your balance off the exchange unless you are actively trading as well.
Just an FYI, more info on the exchanges themselves (e.g., ownership info, etc.) is here:
- https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/info-bitcoin-exchanges-transparency-data-or-lack-thereof-93386
