Topic: ExchB is closing - page 2. (Read 6016 times)

~weex could pop up and say that this is utter bullshit if he wanted to.  It would be unlikely that he would be obligated under the 'top secret NDA' to actively defend the 'conspiricy'.  Though possible I suppose, especially if there were some kicker involved.

If I were in his shoes, however, I would stay mum and try to derive some enjoyment out of whatever whacky theories crop up.

I could care less about proof, but can you at least make the story more believable?   A good sound conspiracy theory has at least some reference to some kind of specifics.  Powerful people paid by.. government?  Private person?    What could have possibly been in that NDA?  What was ExchB doing that the others are or were not?

it's not a conspiracy...   if prices keep falling like this eventually all the exchanges will close.   You can't make money from nothing.. and if BTC go down to hardly anything then there is nothing to keep them open.

Everyone here loves the idea of a free market,  well... this is how the free market works.

printing nearly 5 bitcoins a minute isn't helping either.

I don't believe that it is terribly far fetched to believe that aggravating funding is a good way to damage an effort, or to note that it can and does happen on occasion.

But I agree that the simplest explanation tends to be the strongest one, and in this case it really does not seem to be the case that the money was there to support the enterprise as a money making effort.

I know everyone loves a good conspiracy theory, but no.

If you want to go for conspiracy theories, the "Powers that be" are not going to make such a ham-fisted move as sending in the g-men or whatever to go harass a small exchange.  Getting caught would draw way too much attention to Bitcoin and undermine their cause; Bitcoin's doing just fine screwing itself up with its own tragic-comedy act right now.  If they want to screw with us, they'll hire a couple more guys like Bruce, or set up some more joke exchanges like B7, or any of a hundred other hatchet-jobs to undermine our credibility.

I easily believe ExchB is just economics.  Look at it this way:



They were moving $5k of volume per day.  Their cut is 1% = $50/day = $1500 per month.  That's simply not enough to keep the lights on in a Redwood City office and still put food on the table.

To grow it they'd have to promote like mad.  That would either mean digging deeper into their pockets to pay for advertising (I can't blame them for deciding to simply exit with the current BTC climate), try some grass-roots promotion (was it ever more than one guy?  I can't fault him for focusing on operations instead of getting drawn into the forums all day) or start a referral link program (I can't blame them for avoiding the fires of hell).

In their shoes I'd do the same thing:  Exit gracefully, bank some goodwill, and preserve some capital to start up something with better prospects.  They can always get back into this later if the market explodes.

It's plausible enough (to me) to earn a spot in my list of hypotheses.

Concern over just such a thing caused me to start accumulating more aggressively than I would have otherwise some months ago, and contributed to my decision to just go ahead to fill up my desired quota of BTC last night.

A major on negative concerning this hypothesis is that it is not really needed to explain ExchB calling it quits.  Unless they have significant dark pool activity it doesn't seem like there is much money in things and all the AML stuff must be a true nightmare to deal with.

If there is an element of truth to this hypothesis, I would say that, ironically, what badly wounded Bitcoin was probably the 'money bomb' for the Occupy-X stuff and funding of stuff like Wikileaks.  It is actually one of the few things that Bitcoin is genuinely good for as long as our fiat systems are working well enough for Joe Sixpack.  IMHO.

Just move their corporate office to be incorporated in BVI etc, safe and sound.

Proof or GTFO.

I am sorry to see you guys go.   It was great meeting you guys at the BTC conference in New York.

For any ExchB users who don't already know.  MtGox now accepts cash deposits.

Some powerful people paid these guys a visit. A very one sided NDA has been signed so they can't talk about it for fear of repercussions, now it's my duty to spill the beans.

They got pressured into closing down by the powers that be and more exchanges will be following soon.

Mt.Gox has been able to avoid this so far because they are based in Japan. Plans are in place to get them shut down as well, it's just taking longer than they would like.

well great, I can kiss my 11 cents in my account goodbye.   I could've bought a tootsie roll with that!  

in all seriousness, this sucks.  I loved the bank account cash deposit feature

I think Mtgox maybe want to acquire all the the business of ExchB.

I just put in my withdraw.  Sorry to see you guys go.  You're everything I wanted in an exchange: convenient to get fiat in and out, a simple website, good customer service, and a nice local office we could go burn down if you screwed us out of our BTC.   In all seriousness the US presence with no silly anonymity games is why I was comfortable leaving my money with you, and it's why I'll be interested in any other services you offer in the future.

Honestly I'm surprised you lasted this long.  I know you were running a tight shop, but there's just not enough transaction volume in the present market to support so many exchanges.

Sad to see you go after you were doing everything right, and thanks for a good run.

ExchB is a very good exchange. best wishes.

Any funds not claimed do not become the property of ExchB.  They're in California, so unclaimed funds have to be turned into the California State Controller's Office unclaimed property unit. There's a US-wide system in place to get the money back to its rightful owner.

Doh!  I was planning to diversify and start using ExchB, though the low price has gotten even me down so I may not have followed through very soon.  I'm a shitty customer for exchanges, though, since I don't actually trade much.  (OTOH, I don't play scummy chargeback games or have a lot of red flags requiring a lot of financial research either.)

Thanks for being one shining examples of a Bitcoin enterprise who was straight up and exited with dignity.  I'm not surprised...it's gotta be a tough row to hoe in the exchange business for a couple of diverse reasons.  Hope to see you back at better times, and I'm sure that you've achieved some respect and trust from other people besides just me.

Hi David,
       It is unfortunate to hear that an excellent service like ExchB is closing.  It was also an absolute pleasure to meet you in person at the NYC conference, and wish you all the best with your next venture.

Thank you,
       Keyur

Why close the doors? Why not sell the Xchange?

I'll buy for $500! Serious!

We're emailing all of our clients now. We'll make sure to follow up with those who have not acted as the deadline approaches.