Quote from: DrApricot on April 29, 2014, 07:15:09 PM
>> much better offers can be made
Actually, Sunlot's offer is not economically rational unless they have some kind of inside knowledge that the still missing 650,000 bitcoins are very likely to be soon recovered.
Quote from: btcusury on April 29, 2014, 07:15:09
That's exactly what I think. Although not necessarily inside knowledge -- it could be just an understanding of a high probability of finding the missing BTC. If you assume Karpeles is an incompetent idiot rather than a fraudster, you can take his IRC statement seriously that the BTC are "not technically lost, just temporarily unavailable".
Actually, there is entirely another possibility that at least partly exonerates MK. There has been a persistent rumour that the Mt. Gox losses were not merely the result of malfeasance on the part of the operators of the exchange, but rather came from a bitcoin seizure and gag order by one or more government agencies. These could either be Japanese or American agencies, or both--working in tandem. This is possibly being done as part of a prosecution against a very few of Mt. Gox's customers who may be guilty of some crimes.
I refer you to an excellent report by Tuck Fheman
Gov Most Certainly Seized Gox’s Coins
http://tuckfheman.com/post/79681539135/report-gov-most-certainly-seized-goxs-coinsThe report is dated March 15, 2014, and in it Tuck states his belief that the U.S. government is behind the seizure. Were this true, it seems equally likely that the Japanese authorities are somehow involved too, if not completely behind it. He calls for an "injunction ordering the US Government to release the seized property" by May 16.
I am not in a position to know how much fact is behind this rumour of seizure and gagging, yet the case Tuck lays out certainly sounds quite convincing and worthy of further consideration.