If that is the case, then how about giving the MtGox answer to the questions raised by Stephen Gornick in his post above?
If you want (replaced CampBX with MtGox and replies in bold for readability):
- Does [MtGox] use cold storage (an offline wallet that cannot be accessed should the exchange's service become compromised)
Yes. - Is there a target as to how much of customer's funds are kept in cold storage? (e.g., percent of total, or perhaps relative to recent withdrawal requirements)?
On average 98% of customer bitcoins are held in cold storage, with possible variations on large bitcoin moves (large deposits or customers asking for large withdrawals). - Do new deposits go to cold storage? (if the hot wallet is compromised, new deposits made (e.g., automated payouts by mining pools) would still be secure)
No, this wouldn't be practical in terms of number of bitcoin addresses to keep in cold storage. This could change thanks to BIP 0032 which we are working on implementing. It should be noted however that we are using a hardware security module for the hot wallet - Does the offline wallet where the cold storage resides remain protected due to an "air gap" (no access to it electronically, not connected to the network)?
Offline wallets are generated from an offline system and kept in paper format in three separate locations, using a technology based on raid. It will likely be changed to use Shamir's Secret-Sharing method in the future, and all existing offline wallets will be converted to this.And I have other questions that I'ld like to now the answers to:
- Does [MtGox] maintain full reserve? (i.e., [MtGox] controls bank accounts with all customer USD funds and controls wallets with 100% of BTC funds. None of these amounts loaned out.)
As described in our Terms of Service, customer funds are kept in full, and none are loaned.There are three alternatives:
a) all above is a lie
b) cold storage no longer accessible through incompetence
c) cold storage stolen by an insider
Since incompetence was proven by Gox at every chance given, I vote for b.
