Quote from: sturle on September 16, 2013, 01:57:13 PM

Quote from: Nagle on September 16, 2013, 06:20:42 AM

Quote from: mechs on September 15, 2013, 10:06:32 PM

Who actually believe the issues with USD withdrawals are really due to technical issued with their banking partners? I think it is obvious that they are operating a fractional reserve and do not have close to enough funds if everyone wanted to pull out their fiat. A real-life exchange or investment bank is required to put customer funds in segregated accounts, but this is not the case with Mt. Gox.

Mt. Gox does have the obligation to segregate customer funds and have 100% of them on deposit under the Japan Payment Services Act, or guaranteed by a bank. It's appropriate to ask the Japan Financial Services Agency to audit Mt. Gox.

I think you are wrong. MtGox isn't a financial institution, and aren't registered under Japan Financial Services Agency. There is no category for companies like MtGox. Only banks and other companies involved in payment services, financial instruments, insurance, etc, are.

That's wishful thinking. Of course they're a financial institution. They take deposits and hold customer money. (And don't pay it back when they should.) If they're lucky, the FSA will just consider them a payment services firm. Those rules aren't hard to comply with, although there's a transaction size limit (1 million yen). If they're not lucky, the FSA will treat them as an unlicensed broker or an unlicensed bank.

In the US (where Mt. Gox does have a legal presence, in Delaware), they're probably a broker/dealer, and need to qualify as a broker/dealer under US law to deal with US customers. That means SEC registration, audits, insurance, capital requirements, and background checks. Read "Who is a broker" from the SEC.