I am fairly certain that each dollar that has been in existence for more than a couple of years, has passed through the hands of at least 10 criminals.
That is quite different than "10% of the money supply in the world is in the hands of common criminals".
But the fact that the "bitcoin community" does not want to know what happened inside MtGOX...
meanwhile several law suits are moving forward in order to find out what went on, and attempting to recoup losses [ ... ]
I know of one lawsuit in the US that alleges that MtGOX has failed to properly secure the bitcoins that were deposited there. It is not clear that it will lead to an investigation of what happened to the coins; and anyway it has been stalled by the Chapter 15 filing (above). Are there others?
To be more specific: I did not see any sign that the celebrities of the bitcoin scene or the Shrem Karpeles & Friends Foundation (a.k.a. Bitcoin Foundation) are keen on getting to the truth. (Yes, this is not a Scientific-Academic Result; it is just a speculation if you wish, but this is the 'Speculation' sub-forum, isn't it?
)
Whatever happened at MtGOX, it is certain that some 500,000 BTC now belong to a thief or scammer.
so you know for a fact that just from Gox alone that it is not a possibility keys were lost or Bitcoins were destroyed? Please provide proof. I don't think it is likely coins were destroyed but that doesn't equate to certainty.
Careful, I believe I was called a retard or worse in this thread, for suggesting that Mark could have lost the keys -- back when 'MtGOX is insolvent' was still a heresy.
Yes, admitted, it is possible that those 500,000 bitcoins (or more, perhaps 750,000 ?) were simply lost, or have been sold already to innocent people (who did not know that they were stolen). In these cases, my statement above would be false. But it is at least as likely that someone now has got those coins, knowing that they rightfully belong to MtGOX clients. That someone may be Mark, a hacker, an insider, or someone who bought the coins off market from Mark knowing that they were not his to sell.
So, together with all the other hacks and scams, there is at least the strong possibility that
a few common criminals now have around 10% of all bitcoins. That "strong possibility" is already good munition for the enemies of bitcoin. (Can one say that
a few common criminals control 10% of all national currency supply in the word?) Thus bitcoiners, not the skeptics, should be the most interested in finding out the truth.
As for my opinion on what really happened, the theory that I find most likely at the moment is that Mark sold the coins off-market, before the Nov/2013 rally. (By the way, I was called a retard also for suggesting this possibility, when MtGOX was still "solvent".) At the time I did not know of the Coinlab lawsuit. Recently I saw (on reddit?) an estimate that 750,000 BTC x 100 USD/BTC = 75,000,000 USD = the Coinlab claim; but I do not know whether the dates are consistent with that price.
If Mark sold the coins, the buyer would surely do whatever he can to prevent the truth to come out, since he may then have to return the coins and may be criminally charged for buying stolen property. Therefore, according to the Bayes-McGrath theorem, this
must be the truth.
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