Topic: Should MtGox be shunned from the bitcoin community? (Read 1142 times)

MtGox use Mizuho Bank to process all international wire transfers. The US Department of Treasury has been scrutinizing Mizuho Banks grey transactions and have applied pressure. In fear of being blacklisted by the US they be in compliance. If you've noticed, it's mostly US transactions that are being delayed.

Most of the faults of MtGox aren't because of local financial rules, but because their inner errors. Right now people can't withdraw their bitcoins because of an technical error that has been present for a long time. Nothing is announced about this problem and support isn't mobilized to help the customers that need help. It plainly seems like MtGox just doesn't care and sends a message "we are what we are, so deal with it".
It seems like the owners of MtGox are using their profits to live the good life and investing in the reliability of their services isn't exactly a priority. I'm not gathering an angry mob with pitchforks here to burn the building down, but I am asking the question, should sites like bitcoin.org really promote mtgox as the first gateway to the world of bitcoin? It will cause mistrust among the newcomers who see that the community will guide them towards services that are either incompetent or fraudulent. I think that the community should take a more public stance on MtGox and say that this kind of carelessness isn't tolerated. Nothing will change if people like me announce that they are not using mtgox anymore. Things change when sites like bitcoin.org take responsibility on what they are promoting.

When dealing with any foreign exchange, you must remember that they have to adhere to AML and FINCEN rules and regulations. Just look at their verification and process time for foreigners. If you want to pump and dump I suggest you stay local. Find an exchange that keeps its servers in/near your country.  I'm trading at Coinbase, MtGox, and BtcChina. They all run at their own speed and I have to jump through a lot of hoops but I'm no screwing myself by putting all my eggs in one basket.

Yeah, they screwed me over 6.5 BTC due to holding cash they promised multiple times would be released.  I will never use them again. Way too much of a loss to be bothered by their nonsense.  Support keeps telling you withdrawals in both BTC or cash are catching up and will resume normally in no time, after 5 weeks of lies they still remain the same...

We as a community should not take this kind of junk service and allow them to die a slow death as they've caused so much frustration in many of us and I'm sure the newcomers will feel their pain soon enough.

I would call it indifference I guess, as in I wouldn't remove the promotions and would not add the promotions till they are running smoothly again. Again, this is coming from someone who isn't currently being fucked over by them lol

But don't you agree with me that pages like bitcoin.org should not promote MtGox?

There are a number of pools with this issue; slush's being one. There is also problems posted about BTER another exchange service. I assumed more.

In regards to the Bernard Madoff comment, that logic doesn't follow as they have a history of delayed transfers (maybe other things, like i said I don't use an exchange service yet), where as Madoff is a criminal.

I am not saying that you shouldn't let people know about their delays, but I'm pretty sure there not the only one, just the biggest one.

What are these "a lot of bitcoin related businesses" that have very slow transaction times as of late? I only see MtGox problems reported and I  myself have only experienced bitcoin withdrawal problems with MtGox. I see the first reported problems of mtgox bitcoin withdrawals that reach to the year 2011. And to top everything off, their support services will answer you in 3 days if you are lucky.
I don't see your logic in "I would feel a great deal more safer trading with a company that has history of problems than a exchange that has no history at all.". Should I also trust Bernard Madoff  because he is widely known but has history of problems?
The main thing I am asking here, is why is the bitcoin community supporting and promoting MtGox when their services are clearly unreliable. I understand that the decision is for everyone to make themselves, but trustworthy bitcoin information channels should not promote mtgox and should report more about the constant problems that they're having.

I shunned them a long time ago.

This is a good point, I went to MTGOX first based on the recommendation from bitcoin.org but it is taking forever to get verified. In the meantime I thought let me find a forum on BitCoin and came here ..immediately I saw that everyone was saying not to go with MTGOX. I think that places like this forum are sufficient for informing the community on the real status of the BitCoin exchanges.

every business will have problems. I am not actively trading so this is coming from the perspective of someone who doesn't use one of these services but I would feel a great deal more safer trading with a company that has history of problems than a exchange that has no history at all. That being said, a lot of bitcoin related businesses have been having very slow transaction times as of late, don't hold it against them I assume it was just a scaling issue and will be fixed soon.

Currently MtGox users are waiting up to 5 days for their Bitcoin withdrawals. I am not talking about bank transfers of fiat money, but bitcoin withdrawals that should be instantly entered to the blockchain. As I looked at the past, MtGox had the same problem since 2011 and they haven't still fixed it. Considering their volumes and fees, I find it absurd that they are unable to fix important technical problems for years.
As I read about the history of MtGox, I can see many technical issues that are not addressed and I see a lot of complaining about their unresponsive support services. But still their volume is still high and their customer base big.

Why does the bitcoin community just accept these faults and does nothing? I am not talking about single users who close their mtgox accounts but I am talking about the community leaders and main information hubs that still suggest mtgox as an recommended exhange service. For instance bitcoin.org suggestion shows mtgox first, describing it as "Well-known bitcoin exchange. Sign up for an account, verify yourself and you can purchase a large number of bitcoins.". Shouldn't the description be "Bitcoin exchange that is well-know for various problems"?
Companies like mtgox shouldn't stay in business, but what gives them the big customer base they have, is that new people are guided to mtgox by the various information hubs in the bitcoin community. Shouldn't community leaders take bigger responsibility and guide new people to exchanges that actually deserve new customers?