This is true, but every level of gox has had issues in as long as I can remember. Withdrawals taking months, setting dates for implementing new features / trade engine and missing them over and over again. Generally unable to communicate with there customers. Money seized. Taking 3 times longer than every other exchange to fix the same issue. It seems there is problems at all parts of gox surely the CEO has to have some say in all these issues and he can't even handle one customer outside his office that wants to have a conversation about his money in a decent way instead just tries to ignore him.
I agree with you on lot of the above (withdrawals, shitty engine, poor communication, etc.) with two exceptions:
- money was not seized, but stolen (by mafia called US gov) - an individual (Mark) can do very little when attacked by bureaucrats; it is my understanding that he is repaying the damage out of his personal / business pocket to those who were affected
- he was not handling a customer, but he handled a stalker / jocker - he did it nicely and politely.
While it's nice to point to the US Govt for being a mafia. One could even point to any govt. and claiming it is a mafia. In the sense that a Mafia makes the rules and punish everybody that does not adhere to their rules.
In the real world however, we live in various countries which has laws, restrictions and so on. Failure to follow such legislations have their risks, and esp. when it comes to money, the govts aka mafias, are very sensitive to people not following their rules.
A professional business owner and CEO of a bitcoin company, would anticipate this, and hire appropriate professional legal advisors that would sort this out, and ensure that compliance is present. Failure to be compliant means that it is only a matter of time before you get shut down. That's the reality in the world we live in. Mark, when signing the papers on behalf of Mutum Sigilium LLC when setting up a bank account, he claimed that the account would not be used for money transmitting purposes. He clearly knew that he would get into trouble or at least everything would be more delayed if he said he was a 'money transmitter'. He probably figured that Mutum Sigilium LLC would not be a transmitter of money, but merely holding funds. But this does not hold up in the real world, where failure to comply with the law sets you up for a lot of problems, in this case zeisure of the assets. Some people would call it outright theft, but it is law, and it was done by the US Govt, and that's what you have to deal with.
So, the reason the money was seized is because Mark did not do his job well, so he's got himself to blame. Clearly anybody competent running a bitcoin exchange would be aware that such issues could arise, and would be proactive, and not running after the horse after it escaped from the stable. And of course he has to reinstate customers funds. He fucked up, and then he needs to answer to that. This is not a place of rainbows and unicorns, but a place where failing to adhere to the law have consequences.
And the person that came to see him outside his office was not a stalker, it was a customer. Customers it what makes MtGox make money, so they should respect their customers. When a single customer comes to their offices like this, he does it because there's something that he's not satisfied with, and then he should be respected and listened to for a couple of minutes. Perhaps it is ethically wrong to help this customer first (those who scream the loudest get help first), but realizing that there's something at play her, and that real people have real reactions,and then adjusting your business accordingly, is the way to handle it. However, Mark has time and time again shown that he's unable to take critisism and turn it into something positive that could benefit both his company and his customer base. I don't think many people are interested in only arguing and not doing anything productuve, but the anger is warranted and justified. It's just like the laws in America, in real life, fucking up has its consequences, no matter if you feel that's justified or not.
What people are interested in is to withdraw and deposit fiat money and bitcoins, and do their trading, that's it. That's the core of MtGox business model, and clearly the business is so profitable that both large investors and professionals in certain fields would see an opportunity and challenge in working there.
Mark was delivered a golden goose, but he's slowly killing it. And the free market just reacts. And this might be very healthy, as it decentralizes the bitcoin trade more.