back to article 'Hacked docs' prove MtGox has 1 MILLION Bitcoins, claim blog-snatchers

Hackers have released what they claim are genuine documents which they say prove the stricken exchange still controls almost a million Bitcoins. As Bitcoin exchange MtGox was filing for bankruptcy in the US on Sunday, a group of hackers took over MtGox CEO Mark Karpeles' personal blog, which has since been taken down, and …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In the meantime - back on the farm

    Meta-hackers from the BLA (Bitcoin Liberation Army) were hacking the hackers and publishing irrefutable proof (a screen capture will do these days) that the published documents were NSA issued fakes trying to destabilize the emerging freetard economy and protecting the imperialist interests of the privileged classes ! [Do I sound like a Guardian journalist yet?]

    1. Mtech25

      Re: In the meantime - back on the farm

      The BLA ha, Join the Bitcoin Liberation Font that where it is at, and remember or mortal enemies.. the bitcoin popular front SPLITTERS!!!

    2. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: In the meantime - back on the farm

      Do I sound like a Guardian journalist yet?

      Very shitty. Try again. Work on reconciling the "freetard" concept with the creation of a payment system.

    3. Jim in Hayward

      Re: In the meantime - back on the farm

      What the hell are you writing about anon? Why is this made up currency going to be the savior of the non-rich?? loser.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: In the meantime - back on the farm

      The Bitcoin Liberation Army not to be confused with the Liberation Army of Bitcoin? I just wish they would stop their bickering.

  2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "I am just a humble handsome Asian man ..."

    Am I the only one who thinks there's something inherently contradictory in that sentence ?

    As for anything said by a MtGoX spokesmouth, I'm sorry but your credibility has been shot to pieces by your own PR work. You don't know how to write, you don't know how to manage and I'm quite sure you don't have a clue what the blazes happened to you. You are thus incompetent and clueless.

    And that's what happens when amateurs think they can be bankers on the Internet. Being a responsible banker is hard, making applications secure while being accessed via Internet is doubly hard, and I would say that being a responsible banker whose transaction engine is securely accessible via Internet is one to the power of the other hard.

    The VirtualCoin community is learning that the hard way, and I feel sorry for them.

    Maybe some good will come from this. Somehow, I doubt it. MtGoX-style exchanges will continue, hackers and crims will continue fleecing them, and shady vCoin hardware vendors will keep leading them by the nose, laughing all the way to very real banks.

    The whole vCoin adventure is sailing on a sea of manure at the moment, and the storm is not abating any time soon.

    1. Turtle

      Re: "I am just a humble handsome Asian man ..."

      "'I am just a humble handsome Asian man ..' Am I the only one who thinks there's something inherently contradictory in that sentence ?"

      You need to be a little cautious here. I can't speak directly about Japan but in China, it was (and maybe still is) customary to "prefix" names with "honorifics". So a standard statement might go like this: "What is your expensive name? My miserable name is..." *

      The same sort of customary self-effacing modesty might be far more extensive in Japan, and therefore the sentence "I am just a humble handsome Asian man" would have a meaning somewhat different to a Japanese.

      * Reference for anyone interested (and sorry for the use of Chinese characters):

      "贵 guì means "expensive" but it also carries the loftier meaning of "worthwhile" or "honorable". For instance, when asking about someone's family name,姓 xìng, it's often respectful to add 贵 guì in front of it." (From http://www.zhongwenred.com/lessonfourteen.htm.)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "I am just a humble handsome Asian man ..."

        Sound like a 419 letter

        please big media, let me visit my brother in USA at your expense in $ (US Dollars)

        i am but a humble person

        prince waheen assah (late of the former dictator of lagos)

      2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

        @Turtle : Thank you !

        Thank you for educating me on another culture. It is always refreshing to learn something about other cultures, and it is always humbling to realize that one projects one's own way of thinking into the wrong context.

        I will keep that in mind for future reference.

        1. Turtle

          @ Pascal Monett

          Happy to oblige - and, at the same time, get some use out of my vast store of otherwise useless knowledge!

          : )

  3. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Holmes

    "how a female asshole can become transferred onto my brother's rear end"

    Clearly, we need to know more. Can anyone look into this?

    1. Charles Manning

      Playmobil

      We haven't had Playmobil for a long time. Need it Now!

    2. dan1980

      My take . . .

      @D.A.M.

      The thought that popped into my mind was:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eg8-dii9Ma0#t=56

      Apologies to anyone whose sensibilities are offended.

    3. Znort666
      Coat

      Hi everybody.

      Hi Dr Nick!

  4. Spleen

    From the opening of the Newsweek article:

    "I would like to ask him about Bitcoin. This man is Satoshi Nakamoto."

    "What?" The police officer balks. "This is the guy who created Bitcoin?"

    This is the biggest load of obvious bollocks I've seen since The Times' "Qatar Dream League". How many low-ranking American police officers would know who Satoshi Nakamoto is? A few might have heard of Bitcoin, but hardly any will be interested enough in the subject to have read up on its history, and instantly recall that Satoshi Nakamoto is its creator. The whole story is written like an airport thriller and is just as made-up.

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
      Holmes

      This is the biggest load of obvious bollocks I've seen since The Times' "Qatar Dream League"

      Did you read the fine uh... work ... about Kevin Mitnick, called "Takedown?". Written by NYT's John Markoff and someone called Tsutomu Shimomura? You must!

      1. Mark Solaris

        @Destroy All Monsters

        The funniest bit is Kevin didn't do it. He just got caught with stolen property. He's not actually very good at computers.

  5. Arachnoid

    The Bankers 1 BitCoin 0

    The nations bankers are now cosied up in their vast gold plated counting houses gleefully rubbing their hands cackling gleefully "Our dastardly plan worked!"

    1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

      Re: The Bankers 1 BitCoin 0

      The horrible truth is: THERE WAS NO PLAN

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: The Bankers 1 BitCoin 0

      The rules and safeguards that protect the deposits people have in banks are exactly the sort of things that worry the dodgier people who use bitcoin. If this shadier part of the currency didn't exist then you could have some confidence in the system.

      1. dan1980

        Re: The Bankers 1 BitCoin 0

        @AC

        "If this shadier part of the currency didn't exist then you could have some confidence in the system."

        It really depends on what part of "the system" you are talking about. From what I understand of it, the mining part and general cryptography is quite robust. That is only part of the larger Bitcoin 'ecosystem', however.

        This includes 'wallets' and exchanges and 'banks' and brokerage services and payment portals and it is these that might be cause for any concerns about the security of Bitcoin.

        In other words, the Bitcoin system itself is safe enough, but the companies that have sprung up to Bitcoin-related services are the weak link. This is unsurprising: one is based on hard, impersonal maths, while the other is based on squishy, easily distracted meat with a predisposition towards self-importance and greed.

        But that's talking about confidence in the security of the system - that your precious bitcoins are safe from theft. The other important 'confidence' is the confidence that the currency will hold its value from one day to the next, whereupon you can exchange it for something of equivalent value.

        Bitcoin is far too volatile for that and there is no consensus on if it will reach an equilibrium and, if so, what that will be. Some say we're in a bubble, others contend that $1000 is a reasonable figure. Still others say $0 is the true value.

        So, there's confidence that you will still have your money tomorrow and then confidence that it will actually be worth anything tomorrow!

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    incomptetence has interesting consequences

    Proof that they have control of nearly a million Bitcoins doesn't prove they can remember the password controlling them. The fact that a high proportion of Bitcoins have never been transferred makes you wonder which proportion of Bitcoins in existence have been lost into this black hole. I heard of someone who considered excavating a landfill for a hard drive containing such credentials who decided against it.

    I'm sure I've forgotten the passwords for most of the private keys I've generated - but given these were for short term experiments I guess that doesn't matter under the most likely interpretation of the RIPA - i.e. that it doesn't apply if the key is unknown to the person asked to decrypt something.

    1. Boris the Cockroach Silver badge

      Re: incomptetence has interesting consequences

      Hah dream on

      "But it was just a test file to try out my new 4096 bit encryption program"

      "A likely story... Officer Tulip.... explain to this peado howto remember all his encryption keys ever generated"

      "Ow Ow Ow Ow Ow Ow"

  7. Turtle

    "Satoshi Nakamoto" = "Free Lunch"?

    "What I wanted to do is to plead to allow Dorian to live whatever life he has left to live it in dignity, peace and in private. To let him play with his trains and obsess over being treated to free lunches that he craves for some reason since his stroke."

    Dorian may or may not be Satoshi Nakamoto, but there's certainly no such thing as a free lunch. Except if you're, you know, Satoshi Nakamoto. Or if someone thinks you are. So he might want to think twice about killing the goose that lays the, uh, free lunch (which I guess is an omelette).

    1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge

      Re: "Satoshi Nakamoto" = "Free Lunch"?

      If you break the metaphor, you're paying for it.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
        Happy

        Re: "Satoshi Nakamoto" = "Free Lunch"?

        You can't make an omelette without breaking... metaphors.

        Or something.

        1. Tom 13

          Re: "Satoshi Nakamoto" = "Free Lunch"?

          Do not try to bend a free lunch. That's impossible. You can only realize the truth. There is no free lunch.

          Or something.

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