Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Top Bitcoin Entrepreneur Reports Losing Big Because of Mt Gox Collapse

Coinapult and SatoshiDice founder Erik Voorhees posted a lengthy and emotional commiseration on Reddit, claiming he had 550 bitcoins stored with Mt. Gox himself and “will never get any of that back”. At current prices that's $250,000 in bitcois.He wrote:
“I should have known better, of course. I take responsibility for leaving those funds with an entity that had proven incompetence repeatedly. I chose to ignore even my own warnings, for nothing more than the sake of convenience.”
In December, Voorhees posted this at EPJ

 Erik VoorheesDecember 11, 2013 at 4:21 PMGary North destroyed Bitcoin? Someone better let Bitcoin know, because in the time it took Gary to write his article, Bitcoin moved millions of dollars around the world without fees, without banks, and without governments.

In January, Voorhees posted this at EPJ:
Erik VoorheesJanuary 23, 2014 at 4:27 PMSo after Andreesen's beautifully-articulated and inspirational NY Times piece, your two concerns are:
1) That Bitcoin is so disruptive it may anger those it disrupts
2) That Bitcoin is so useful that legacy companies will try to replicate it

Yes, Erik. Bitcoin will anger those it disrupts. That's why the US government confiscated $5 million in Mt Gox bank accounts and started it on its road to ruin. (See: Did the Government Force Mt. Gox Into a Bit of a Ponzi Scheme-Type Dancing?)

(Via Coindesk)

9 comments:

  1. I never could fully wrap my brain around this idea of a virtual currency because I always came back back to the problem of security and the government intervention. You have, on more than one occasion, pointed out the flaws in virtual currencies. With that said, Is it really necessary to "kick a man when he is down"?

    How friggin big is your ego Robert? Let's talk about the rising interest rates that you have been calling since 2009. Where's the ten year today? What's a 30 year mortgage rate today? How many times in 2009, 2010 and after did you tell people to "hurry and lock in rates now"? Of course they are going up eventually but not anytime soon.

    Have some class. Write your opinion and give warnings if you feel it's necessary. But do you really need to hear, "you were right"?

    Craig

    ReplyDelete
  2. I had Voorhees personally respond to a comment I made on a Yahoo article 2-3 years ago as I was the lone nut suggesting Bitcoin wasn't as safe as gold/silver.

    I got jumped on by everyone and when Voorhees reponsded personally to me they all bowed down before him and licked his boots while bascially saying, "You don't know anything to me, be grateful the Bitcoin god chose to grace you with his presence."

    How ironic to read this now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dance if you must Robert. But who is the real fool? That number likely represents a very small fraction (less than 1%) of his total Bitcoin wealth.

    ReplyDelete
  4. When Bitcoin is up it is a bubble.
    When bitcoin is down it is dying
    When it is going sideways people are losing interest.

    Wenzel's analysis is rather predictable, but at least he is making good arguments in the process.
    I appreciate his contrarian views. The recent Mtgox debacle is another gruesome chapter in the Bitcoin history book. Other chapters are mostly about the FBI, the japanese mafia, hackers, drug dealers, money laundering, scammers etc. These are not words you want to see anywhere near the word Bitcoin. Bad associations are bad for business

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wenzel, you are a midget compared to Erik Vorhees. It's amusing to watch a midget try to criticize a giant.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Wenzel, first you has an obsession with Jeff Tucker, then it was Stephan Kinsella, now thankfully its not an actually person, but a thing, Bitcoin.

    Don't you think its a bit sick that a supposed Libertarian like yourself will be happy with glee that the US government has stolen fiat money out of a US account, happy with glee that this may have led to Mt Gox going under?
    You are mentally deranged when it comes to this bitcoin subject.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps Mr. Wenzel performed a public service, saving a least a few soles some scratch?
      He simply pointed out that similar to the present Social Media(and Dotcom 2 bubble, my take), the Bitcoin valuations made scant sense for such an unknown entity. Learn a hard lesson Youngins (like he, and others have and why they warned about all of this), but don't give up on digital currencies(or your dreams), as I predict they will happen (but through the filter-meddling of 'The State' and entrenched interests).

      Delete
  7. Only the dumbest people on earth invest in virtual nothingness and then claim they're fighting the government by doing so, when the currency itself plays right into the hands of government regulators and central banks.

    It's the Myspace of virtual currencies.

    ReplyDelete