Quote from: DutchBrat on August 31, 2012, 10:17:25 PM

The point is that you either think

A) Pirate is an upstanding member of the community who is experiencing cash-flow problems but will do his utmost to pay everyone back

or

B) you think that he ran a ponzi scheme and that he will pay you back as little as possible

It's either A) or B) ; There's no grey in between where he is a bit honest and a bit ponzi

I don't think so. For example, here's a middle position:

C) Pirate honestly, but stupidly, believed that if he acquired enough BTC, he could make huge profits by manipulating the market. Or, failing that, the value of Bitcoins would drop to zero before he collapsed because he believed Bitcoin was doomed to fail. He operated as a Ponzi scheme to build sufficient funds fully expecting to make enough profits before he had significant withdrawals. He was never able to make a profit manipulating the market but just figured he didn't quite have enough funds yet. Then, he got hit with a large number of withdrawals at once and realized that if he made all those withdrawals, he'd never be able to be profitable. He still has a pile of money, though not enough to cover all withdrawals, and is not sure what to do with it. Maybe he thinks he can settle with many people for pennies on the dollar and is acquiring his own debt at low cost and hopes that some day soon he can make 100% payouts to everyone who still holds his debt.

I'm not saying I think that's what happened. I'm saying though that there are any number of possible middle positions.