My mistake then. But again, the risks are almost the same. MtGox fiat account could be seized, the entire site hacked and become insolvent, or his personal account hacked. If he intended to keep a fiat balance, it would be safer to do so in a traditional bank that can reverse transactions.

Perhaps he was keeping his fiat there because of MtGox's liquidity problems. Or perhaps he was a day-trader. These possibilities make it much more understandable.

But if you have fiat on Gox and you're not willing to spend this money any time soon, then I'd advice to withdraw it. Even if takes months to come to your bank account, it's safer like this than letting it sitting there. I'd say that MtGox is more vulnerable to account seizures than most banks... it has already happened to their US-domiciled accounts, are you so sure it won't happen to their main accounts in Japan?

EDIT: By the way, my post above is not entirely incorrect when you consider only the quoted part I was replying to:


You should not trust the largest exchange with your coins, but that doesn't mean there's nothing you can do.