First the, main reason this thread is in "Marketplace" is because of the gargantuan "$45,000 thread" in here. But, it also fits here because it is about Mt. Gox and Mt. Gox is a key player in the Bitcoin marketplace.
Second, the purpose of this topic is to help out people who are trying to interpret what that giant thread actually
means for Bitcoin, Mt. Gox, etc. without having to wade through it. It is
not a place for bickering over scams, calling people out, arguing about details--page 6289 of the other thread is for that. It is just a simple place for people, in one short post per person, to describe their level of trust in Mt. Gox, and what their
personal experience with the site and its owner has been. Save the speculation and philosophical conflicts for elsewhere, please. Let's keep this about just the day-to-day participation of Mt. Gox in the Bitcoin community.
Now, to help ensure the details of that other thread don't need to get rehashed too much in this one, here's a rough overview of what it contains:
On February 21, a user "Baron" (new account) posted that:- his Mt. Gox account had been frozen with approximately 45,000 USD in it.
- Mt. Gox had questions over certain Bitcoins in his possession
- Baron had purchased these Bitcoins anonymously over IRC and was unable to remember any details such as channel, usernames, etc.
- the frozen money came from Liberty Reserve
Mt. Gox responded:There is pretty strong evidence that this guy was involved in some theft of BTC. I'm trying to talk to him to make absolutely certain.
Baron continued posting extensively, saying he wanted to
return the 9000 BTC in question, offering
his own chronology, but then later
altering his
original IRC story, saying that although he had trusted Mt. Gox with 45,000 USD he
would not provide Mt. Gox with his real name or an ID scan, saying that involving authorities and the law
would be financially impractical but then claiming to have
spoken with his lawyers less than 2 hours later.
TheKoziTwo demonstrated how Baron's account was linked to the BTC in question--a direct link with no middlemen.
Mt. Gox clarified:Guys I really don't want to go into details about this until it is resolved. If baron is in fact a scammer the less he knows about what I know the better.
I'm still talking to baron and trying to get to the bottom of this.
BCEmporium: How can you say what you would do when you don't know what is really happening? If I allow him to trade and he is a scammer it is very easy to send the majority of his money to another account just by clearing out the order book and then trading with another account he makes.
And of course I have talked to the victim and am convinced his account was stolen from. I don't enjoy just blocking random people's accounts. I wouldn't do it unless there really was no other option.
Also I'm not holding his funds because I think he bought stolen BTC. I'm holding them because there is a chance he stole BTC.
Bimmerhead: I'm waiting for him. He isn't waiting for me. I've been trying to get him on the phone since this happened.
"Baron" continued posting more irately,
threatening legal action and demanding access to the frozen account "to take screenshots",
demanding information about Mt. Gox, claiming unable to speak on the phone
due to muteness, etc.
Mt. Gox offered a complete rundown of
what happened with Baron's account. Executive summary: damning evidence of more than $45,000 worth of theft.
Baron began posting in red that Mt. Gox is a scammer, that he would have him
put in jail, while still refusing to
identify himself or even
his nationality, apparently forgetting that he claimed he
had already done so.
Mt. Gox added that since putting the money in his Mt. Gox account Baron has been
withdrawing the maximum per day, and that logs of the standard bitcoin trade channel on IRC
contain nothing like the alleged purchase from "the real thief".
And that's where we're up to now, 37 pages and a little over one week later. I hope I was able to save some people the wade through all that. I'll try to update it as anything new comes in so we can keep it out of this thread as much as possible, and hopefully save some people the dig through that one as well. Took a good few hours out of my life, but better one person than everybody. So to get the focus back on track, here is my own short and sweet description of my trust in Mt. Gox:
I had no prior relationship with anyone in the Bitcoin community when I joined it a couple months ago. Every single Bitcoin I have purchased (not a fortune, but a decent amount) has been facilitated in one way or another by Mt. Gox. I think that Jed has handled this difficult situation exceptionally well. I don't feel at all that he's overstepped his boundaries. To stand idly by while a thief made off with so much cash would have been unconscionable. He's been fair, open, and the only thing anyone can say against him is that he doesn't spend his whole life on the internet. Thank goodness he's actually running the business part of the time! Baron is working his story as hard as he can, but it doesn't begin to match up. If Mt. Gox was acting in the least bit unfair toward him it would have been a massive risk that an unknown Mt. Gox user turn out to be a respected member of the community, or the planet, who could destroy Mt. Gox's reputation in a heartbeat. Instead we have a nameless, faceless username just trying to stir up trouble because he got caught. I won't begin to give him the satisfaction.
End result? I pretty much trust Mt. Gox hands down. I'll trust the exchange with my money and identity, my respect, and with an important role in the future of the Bitcoin community at this crucial time. I would firmly recommend it to any new or old user of Bitcoin as reliable and trustworthy. That's the takeaway from this thing--tested and found true.
Go Mt. Gox! I'm behind you!! This incident just proves how hard you work to do your job, and I'm greatly indebted to you for it. Here's to a long and bright future for both you and Bitcoin itself, despite anybody else's attempts.
Sincerely,
eMansipater