Topic: Where's John K? - page 3. (Read 4627 times)

That doesn't really sound too good. If he does do that, no one should use that person as escrow until; his main account comes back on of course.

Hope his OK,

Maybe when he comes back he should create a ALT account that he is happy to log on on a unsecured computer just to give people updates if he has gone away for what ever reason.

Like JohnK-Alt or something.

Thanks a ton for providing that.  It at least provides a plausible scenario that doesn't involve potential RL harm to John. It makes sense that he is putting security foremost. I had scrolled back a bit in his history and saw there were a few errors with refund amounts.  Perhaps upon getting his new computer another error occurred and he is still trying to get everything restored.

As wtfvanity said, the timeline doesn't _quite_ fit...two weeks is a pretty long time to disappear.

It would be priceless if anyone out there has well-established community trust and knows how to contact him in RL to get the story.


Thanks for keeping an eye on this, DeathAndTaxes.
Another refinement that comes to mind is a 'death plan'. This is something that any Bitcoin holder should have - the means to transfer account information on to some other trusted person(s) to prevent lost bitcoins in the event of unexpected death.  Statement of having such a plan in place would provide greater security to escrow clients.

These unexpected events really are opportunities. Opportunities to recognize gaps in the current Bitcoin ecosystem...then filling them in.  I know that a decade from now we'll laugh at how unbelievably primitive the tools we used to use Bitcoins were, starting out.

Watching.  John K has always been a solid escrow agent and I have referred many a client to him (as escrow is too low margin and demanding for my tastes).   I hope this is only a situation of unexpected real world issues keeping him "offline". 

Even if everything does turn out "fine" it does illustrate that we really need easy to use multi-sig capabilities.  Before reading the amount of the escrow I was like "not a chance this is fraudulent" the amount made me doubt my first reaction if even a little.  I think 300+ BTC is pushing the limit of what I would trust to any single person in a single tx. Even a service like John's can be enhanced by multi-sig (Buyer, Seller, John, it takes 2 signatures to move funds).    

I confirm everything said in Chainsaw's post. I can further add that the standard escrow contract we got from JohnK was clearsigned by his signature, as usual. Also, the escrowed funds were not moved, so a hit-and-run account compromise is not likely.

The timeline doesn't seem to fit his current leave of absence. Hopefully everything is okay, god speed JK!

This post may be relevant: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.3365026

It may be possible that he is having trouble with his new laptop.

Arvicco and I escrowed a 339.6 BTC transaction using John K. on October 23rd. On October 25th, the transaction was completed and Arvicco requested that John K release the escrowed funds.  From that point until now, we have heard nothing from him.  The maximum contractual duration he allows for funds release is 2 days, and we now a week beyond release request.  You can see that he has not been active since the morning of 10/26:

https://bitcointalksearch.org/user/john-john-k-31288

We have contacted theymos to ask about how to proceed. He recommended we post publicly, in the hopes that someone might know how to reach out to him.

In most cases, the most likely explanation for this scenario would be easy - the guy disappeared with the money, never to return.  But this is John K. we're talking about. 
Given John's rock-solid reliability as the goto escrow guy for BitcoinTalk, he deserves as much benefit of the doubt as is humanly possible.  The concern is that something may have happened to him in RL. I've racked my brain, and cannot think of a more likely scenario. 

I don't know if John's anonymity is important to him. Without knowing this, I'd like to be cautious and not have any information publicly divulged that might identify him.  Ideally, I won't even need to know this information myself.  My chief concerns are two-fold:
1) Gain an understanding for John K's mid-escrow, extended disappearance.
2) Recover the funds tied up in this escrow.

Could we use this thread as a centralized place to try to share any information that might help get to the bottom of what's going on?  Please mention / share it with anyone that might know him in RL or have alternative means to try to contact him.  Any additional recommendations, please share.

-Chainsaw