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Topic: Instawallet is shutting down (Update: not anymore, a new owner has been found) - page 2. (Read 4341 times)

sr. member
Activity: 311
Merit: 250
Bitcoin.se site owner
Thanks Jan for creating Instawallet! It's a great concept and a great way to quickly introduce people to Bitcoin. Hope that it will live on in some form.
legendary
Activity: 1918
Merit: 1570
Bitcoin: An Idea Worth Spending
I've just donated my remaining balance of .58584966 BTC on Instawallet to Bitcoin 100. Here is the donation address for those who may also have bitcents still on deposit there and want to contribute: 1BTC1oo1J3MEt5SFj74ZBcF2Mk97Aah4ac

The goal is to make Rassah earn his keep by now having to record, hopefully, a slew of transactions. Thank you kindly for considering this option.

~Bruno~

https://www.instawallet.org/static/notice.html?v=ecc06
Quote
A number of factors have come together for me to decide to shut down the site. The main reason though is that I currently do not have the time necessary to continue running the site and deal with issues properly. I have had people interested in buying the site in the past, so it might continue in a different form. (If you are interested in acquiring Instawallet feel free to get in touch with me.) I have not decided on that yet though.
jav
sr. member
Activity: 249
Merit: 251
Some of these wallets are held by those who won't learn of this shutdown notice.   Without any way to notify them, some will lose their coins.  Would there be some way for wallets (maybe just those over a certain amount) be claimable for an extended period of time?

Definitely. At the very least people will always be able to get in touch with me via e-mail and by providing the Instawallet link and a return address I will sent them their funds. I will give it a few weeks to see for how many remaining accounts this will be necessary.
legendary
Activity: 2506
Merit: 1010
Thank you Jav for having created the concept of an anonymous online instant e-wallet service.

I am reminded of the utility of InstaWallet each time I want to hand out a small, sample amount of bitcoins to someone who I wouldn't expect would install the Bitcoin client or to immediately create an account at an exchange.

The service will be missed.  I do see that there is a similar service now available.  Their "Instant Bucket" is pretty similar in functionality to an InstaWallet:
 - https://www.btcbuckets.com

Some of these wallets are held by those who won't learn of this shutdown notice.   Without any way to notify them, some will lose their coins.  Even though the site mentioned recommended usage was only for "small change", I suspect there are some InstaWallets that hold significant amounts.  Would there be some way for wallets (maybe just those over a certain amount) be claimable for an extended period of time?
sr. member
Activity: 300
Merit: 250
BitcoinStarter.com Support Account
legendary
Activity: 1078
Merit: 1000
Charlie 'Van Bitcoin' Shrem
We are sorry to see such a pioneer in the Bitcoin industry go!

We are interested as well in hearing more about your company.

A quick and easy buyout, merge, or takeover is possible as we have the worldwide infrastructure to do it!

Get in touch!

Charlie Shrem, CEO BitInstant
Time is Money!
[email protected]

NYC, United Kingdom, Japan.
sr. member
Activity: 403
Merit: 250
Interested in selling the customers/site/system? Contact me via e-mail / PM.
jav
sr. member
Activity: 249
Merit: 251
I have decided to shut down Instawallet for the time being. More details at www.instawallet.org . It was a great experience creating and running Instawallet, but at the moment I don't have the time and resources to continue to support the site. Thanks everyone for your support throughout the history of the project!

Full quote from the site:
Quote
Instawallet is shutting down. Please withdraw all your funds over the next days. The site will remain active until most funds have been withdrawn. Any remaining claims will then be dealt with manually.

Please note: Some of Instawallet's funds are in cold storage. Depending on how quickly users are withdrawing, the site might occasionally run out of funds until I move more coins out of storage. Please do not panic in that case and just try again a few hours or a day later. All funds are completely accounted for and can be returned in full.

A number of factors have come together for me to decide to shut down the site. The main reason though is that I currently do not have the time necessary to continue running the site and deal with issues properly. I have had people interested in buying the site in the past, so it might continue in a different form. (If you are interested in acquiring Instawallet feel free to get in touch with me.) I have not decided on that yet though.

It was a great experience for me to provide this tool to the Bitcoin community over the past months and I have definitely learned a lot. It was a tough decision for me to make, but it will also allow me to focus on new projects. I'm looking forward to see how the Bitcoin ecosystem develops further.

Thanks for all your support!
Jan
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