Quote from: zeroblock on August 13, 2013, 04:15:39 PM

Quote from: sturle on August 13, 2013, 12:25:31 PM

Here are some new IRC quotes for you, reordered for readability:

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13:43 < sturles> SEPA has been delayed for as long as I can remember. I wish
MtGox had more SEPA banks, but they generally don't like
Bitcoin buisnesses. Perhaps the one in Slovenia which
Bitstamp is using could be worth a try? Could be troubled
with the same issue, of course.
13:48 <@MagicalTux> sturles, we already applied to that one
13:53 < sturles> MagicalTux: Great! Lower SEPA delays would do wonders! In
fact all good news regarding delays would be wonderful at this
time..
13:54 <@MagicalTux> sturles, we've been reducing SEPA delay day by day
13:54 <@MagicalTux> things are much better than one month ago
13:54 < sturles> Have your limits increased?
13:54 <@MagicalTux> nope

This is great news!

That is not great news, sounds like the Slovenia bank rejected their application. Also, their limits have not increased. This is bad news.

Do you have a source for your claim that the bank in Slovenia rejected their application, or are you making that up?

Reducing SEPA delay is very good news. SEPA withdrawals have been delayed for weeks and months for as long as I can remember. The forum threads about SEPA delays are years old. SWIFT used to be the solution (at a higher fee), and when that ceased to be a solution, the matters got even worse for a while, and are now finally improving.

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Quote from: sturle on August 13, 2013, 12:25:31 PM

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13:50 < samson_> MagicalTux: Would you say we're facing a banking embargo on
the entire Bitcoin business ?
13:51 <@MagicalTux> samson_, things are not easy, but it's far from what you
could qualify as "embargo"
13:51 < samson_> ok thanks

Difficulties (we know that from many countries, e.g. UK), but no organized embargo.

I don't think he is going to go "yep, no bank wants to do business with us" (for some lolz, please refer to previous answer in section above). He skirts around the question by directly referring to "embargo" rather than the difficulties they are facing, which he has confirmed prior<@MagicalTux> cyro432: not much we can do right now because of US govt"

If you lift the rock you live under and look back, you may notice that 40% of all Bitcoin exchanges have either been forced to close or have had serious problems due to banks not wanting them as customers any more. Banking and Bitcoin have never been good friends. Bitcoin exchanges in Europe are limited to very few banks which are not hostile, and those banks are in countries far from the exchanges. This should tell you something.

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Quote from: sturle on August 13, 2013, 12:25:31 PM

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13:58 < sturles> Btw, there are roumous now that USD withdrawals are somehow
blocked entirely. Is there any truth to that? Some people
intepret this as "US government are blocking all USD
withdrawals": <@MagicalTux> cyro432: not much we can do right
now because of US govt
13:59 <@MagicalTux> sturles, "blocked" is not the correct word
14:00 < sturles> What is the exact problem then? You can see here how the
speculations go:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=179586.msg2918767#msg2918767
14:01 <@MagicalTux> sturles, we are not allowed to talk about the exact problem
(doing so would only make things worse)

That's no explanation of the problem, but explains the lack of news. For other currencies:

I don't see how this answer doesn't scare the hell out of you. And you brush it off like its an acceptable reply. "Not allowed to talk about the exact problem" that is by far the worst excuse for lack of transparency.

The USSA are issuing "National Security Letters" by the truckload these days everybody has at least one and secret laws, regulations, courts and concentration camps make sure we don't want to talk about it to each other. This isn't news. When dealing with the USSA we are not allowed to speak our own opinion.

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Quote from: sturle on August 13, 2013, 12:25:31 PM

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13:58 < SleepersTide> MagicalTux: Are Australian bank transfer withdrawals
being processed normally?
13:58 < SleepersTide> (also how long do those take?)
14:00 <@MagicalTux> SleepersTide, right now all SWIFT transfers are processed
up to the limits of our current bank (up to 10 transfers
per day - we should be able to increase that as soon as we
have more banking partners ready - it's taking longer than
expected because of the time required by the people at the
bank to understand our business)
14:10 < sturles> MagicalTux: Why only 10 SWIFT transfers per day? Is that
commonplace for customers in your bank?
14:12 <@MagicalTux> sturles, most companies in Japan will do one, maybe two
SWIFT transfers a month to providers overseas (actually
most will do zero)14:14 < Delerium> when you say transfers per day you mean 10 swift runs
(containing LOADS of transfers within) or literally just 10
transfers
14:16 <@MagicalTux> Delerium, literal
14:17 <@MagicalTux> when we were in the second largest bank in Japan, we
represented more than half of all the volume of SWIFT
processed by that bank (almost overloading their systems a
couple of times)

With only 10 withdrawals per day in all other currencies than JPY and EUR, it is going to take time. And he confirms again that MtGox are in fact overloading their bank. The discussion is still going on, btw. About ordering and more about transparency:

"Its taking longer than expected... [for] the people at the bank to understand our business." I just don't know what to say at this point. I mean to expect me to believe that it takes 2-3 months for very intelligent individuals at a bank to understand how Bitcoin works is difficult. And that they overloaded the second largest bank in Japan is extremely hard to believe.

See previous note about exchanges closing or getting in serious trouble due to banking trouble. Are Barclays still sitting on Intersango's GBP? It is vitally important that the banks understand what MtGox are doing. Otherwise we'll just end up with even more trouble and locked funds.

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Quote from: sturle on August 13, 2013, 12:25:31 PM

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14:17 < rfish> MagicalTux: I think you owe it to customers to make the numbers
of swift transfers you are doing per day more public and explain
the reasons
14:18 <@MagicalTux> rfish, rather than spending time on this, fixing it is
likely going to bring more on the long term
14:18 < rfish> MagicalTux: And you should be fair about which you do, like
wires greater than X amount, in the order they are received
14:19 <@MagicalTux> those wires are processed in received order, nothing else

"<@MagicalTux> rather than spending time on this, fixing it is likely going to bring more on the long term"

Ok, well in the 30 seconds you spend reviewing your press releases, maybe you should insert some truth somewhere. This is a different statement than before "<@MagicalTux> Not allowed to talk about the exact problem" instead he shifts the blame to being "too busy."

I understand that the SWIFT limit is not exactly the same as their USD problem, but this may be a misunderstanding. At least he explains how they are working to solve their problem with SWIFT transfer limits. I agree that fixing the problem is more important than talking about it.

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"<@MagicalTux> those wires are processed in received order, nothing else"

This is in direct contradiction to what MagicalTux posted a few weeks ago where he said that "5 digit or more" wires were taking priority. I'm done. No further explanation necessary. Let everyone decide for themselves whether or not they believe any word that comes out of Gox's mouth.

July 24, 2013:
[14:45] <@MagicalTux> right now we're giving priority to larger transfers
[14:45] please define "larger"
[14:46] <@MagicalTux> 5 digits or more

This has obviously changed. Perhaps they have listened to all the protests. I don't know. At 10 SWIFT transfers a day the delays will obviously be endless unless they focus on solving the problem instead of the exact ordering of the queue.