bittrex doesnt stake?
unless they stated pubclicly they do NOT i think it's safe bet they do in fact stake coins like any exchange would.
i have no problem with them doing it so long as i can get coins in and out of the exchange in a timely fashion.
and if they are caught sinking coins with 51% attacks then oh well they will get caught eventually maybe and ruin their rep.
Agreed, other than the possible massive conflict of interest. IE: XST takes 3 days to mature. It was #1 in volume for several days on trex. Hard for coins to reach maturity, with all that volume flying about. Maintenance would be a sure way to stabilize the wallet for a few days, and start staking. "Hey don't mind us, we're just working on the wallet... for a few weeks."
The wallet has been locked down since that sdc rampage almost 3 weeks ago. Coincidence? I hope so, but wikilieaks has destroyed any trust I once gave people. Anyone is capable of anything and then lying about it. Especially those in charge. Cryptsy has been known to ninja add coins for no apparent reason. So there's obviously some kind of a back door there somewhere. Could that that door be used to cause harm? Only they know.
Even self admitted noobs claim this was a very easy wallet upgrade. And the Stealth devs stepped up personally, to help those that needed extra attention. Didn't take but a couple of hours and Mintpal 2 had a working XST wallet. Nothing else worked, but they did have that.
Was Mintpal staking VERI, before the theft? Is staking the reason they had 8 million of their customer's coins in an online wallet?
Anything can happen. From "good ole boy" business practices, to bad security, to a disgruntled employee.
The takeaway? Once sent to an exchange, "your coins are belong to them!" They can do with them as they please. As has happened many times already, You may never see them again. Trading = Much Risk. Not just selling low.