Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Goes Offline - $350 Million Hack

by Hilbert Hagedoorn on: 02/25/2014 08:55 AM | source: | 20 comment(s)

Mt. Gox, once the world's largest bitcoin exchange, has gone offline, apparently after losing hundreds of millions of dollars due to a years-long hacking effort that went unnoticed by the company. The hacking attack is detailed in a leaked "crisis strategy draft" plan, apparently created by Gox and published Monday by Ryan Selkis, a bitcoin entrepreneur and blogger (see below).

According to the document, the exchange is insolvent after losing 744,408 bitcoins - worth about $350 million at Monday's trading prices. The plan paints a bleak picture of the exchange's finances and outlines an arbitrage scheme to restore the exchange to solvency. "The reality is that Mt. Gox can go bankrupt at any moment, and certainly deserves to as a company," the document states.

WIRED couldn't confirm the authenticity of the document. Reached Monday night, a Gox representative declined to comment on the document and referred us to the company's webpage, before abruptly hanging up. But the website went offline a few hours after the company suspended trading on its exchange, and if the document is indeed authentic, the situation it described could reverberate across the world of bitcoin and possibly hamper the future of the digital currency.

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SirDremor
Senior Member

Posts: 586
Joined: 2008-06-20

#4772193 Posted on: 02/25/2014 09:08 AM

Mwu-ha-ha!

Sorry, but I can only gloat on this! If the history can NOT teach anyone anything, then only the harsh reality can!

BTW, I even know who performed this "hacking effort" - owners of Mt.Gox themselves.

V@IO
Senior Member

Posts: 494
Joined: 2010-04-12

#4772275 Posted on: 02/25/2014 12:45 PM

This is the reason why is am a skeptic of bitcoin.

main_shoby
Senior Member

Posts: 1044
Joined: 2006-02-06

#4772314 Posted on: 02/25/2014 01:33 PM

ok! All I care is a $500.00 290X. This will pull 780ti's prices down a little... so I can SLI

Speed Weed
Senior Member

Posts: 1066
Joined: 2011-12-04

#4772334 Posted on: 02/25/2014 02:12 PM

Brilliant stuff!
Good to see that the likes of the Shadow Crew are still keeping their hand in, targeting easy marks like this!

Rich_Guy
Senior Member

Posts: 12343
Joined: 2003-05-11

#4772352 Posted on: 02/25/2014 02:41 PM

Bitcoin in freefall

http://vr-zone.com/articles/bitcoin-freefall-mt-gox-closes-doors/72773.html

k3vst3r
Senior Member

Posts: 3351
Joined: 2009-01-03

#4772362 Posted on: 02/25/2014 02:51 PM

it will rebound in value eventually

jbmcmillan
Senior Member

Posts: 2680
Joined: 2002-11-28

#4772495 Posted on: 02/25/2014 05:11 PM

it will rebound in value eventually

Stuff like this will keep happening as they as in any bit coin exchange are the largest targets on the web.

BLEH!
Senior Member

Posts: 5918
Joined: 2010-10-17

#4772516 Posted on: 02/25/2014 05:29 PM

Been tryna find a way to harness CPU/GPU power to make some money but alas, nothing, yet. Coin mining seems like a waste of time tbh.

KBDE
Senior Member

Posts: 215
Joined: 2003-04-02

#4772577 Posted on: 02/25/2014 06:51 PM

It makes absolutely no sense that they haven't noticed the problem earlier in the few years its apparently happening. They MUST have notice a million here or there is missing. :3eyes:

In my eyes this only leads to one conclusion: inside job. I think that Mark Karpeles is a very rich man now, if he wasn't already before.

tugCREW
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Posts: 36
Joined: 2013-12-23

#4772610 Posted on: 02/25/2014 07:49 PM

I never trust them, something fishy

Veeshush
Senior Member

Posts: 1095
Joined: 2010-11-28

#4772622 Posted on: 02/25/2014 08:10 PM

Bitcoin insiders had been bracing for the worst from Mt. Gox for weeks, but the magnitude of the apparent theft — which would be the largest bitcoin heist ever — and the company’s alleged plan to replenish its stock of bitcoins took even seasoned bitcoiners by surprise. “Gox is the worst-run business in the history of the world,” said Roger Ver, in an instant message interview. Ver is a bitcoin advocate who lives across the street from Mt. Gox’s Tokyo offices and tried to help out the troubled exchange the last time it was hacked, back in 2011.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2014/02/bitcoins-mt-gox-implodes/

How could you not trust these competent people!

JulesCools
Senior Member

Posts: 282
Joined: 2013-04-29

#4772672 Posted on: 02/25/2014 09:23 PM

As long as people keep believing that bitcoins are valuable, they stole something. BUT WAIT! If we all agree they're the useless garbage imagination of fools who have created their own currency, it's not worth anything. There is no actual work behind bitcoin, it's worth nothing.

HonoredShadow
Senior Member

Posts: 4267
Joined: 2007-05-27

#4772693 Posted on: 02/25/2014 09:48 PM

A bit like real money then.

southamptonfc
Senior Member

Posts: 1810
Joined: 2006-04-10

#4772702 Posted on: 02/25/2014 09:58 PM

^^ Exactly.

Try going to the Fed and asking to be given some gold in exchange for your 100 dollar bill!

These are interesting times, sink or swim, I'm enjoying the development of bitcoin.

seaplane pilot
Senior Member

Posts: 1295
Joined: 2004-10-02

#4772709 Posted on: 02/25/2014 10:08 PM

You spew FUD!

What am I going to do with all this crypto I have mined in less than a year? It is worthless.

http://cryptofolio.info/?@ReadOnly=6092_e58a760b

Also in regards to Mt. Gox, it is a Mt. Gox issue not a Bitcoin issue. Coinbase and other Bitcoin exchanges are doing fine.

Coinbase BTC price= 533.00 USD

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