Thanks!
Note that the first article was written in March, when the BTC price chart did not look as bad as it does now.
"This summer" is already gone. Did they open that bitcoin exchange?
According to the first article, only those SMBIT customers who have held shares for more than 12 months will be allowed to offer them for sale on OTCQX. As people buy those shares, SMBIT will NOT buy more BTC.
At best, I see the following effects of the OTCQX offering on the BTC market:
(1) when those old clients opt to sell their SMBIT shares on OTCQX instead of liquidating them, SMBIT will not have to sell the corresponding BTC. It is not clear whether the people who buy at OTCQX will be able to liquidate them at SMBIT immediately, or whether they too will have to wait for one year before doing so.
(2) if the general public rushes to buy SMBIT shares on OTCQX, so that the shares sell at a premium over their face value, other large investors will want to buy shares from SMBIT (which will cause them to buy BTC) in order to sell them on OTCQX. However those big investors will have to wait for one year before doing so.
I cannot imagine why someone would want to put their money into such a trap. But I cannot imagine why someone would invest in bitcoin either. Oh well.
The Winkles presented a talk at the Money 20/20 conference recently. Did you see the reviews?
And I sill would like to know whether that alleged letter from the SEC to SMBIT indeed exists, and what it says.