Former CEO Mark Karpeles warns Mt. Gox's US$500 million loss of funds could happen again, just as BitFinex announces its own possible solution. As Mark Karpeles expressed his concern that digital currency exchanges are still holding customer deposits, BitFinex has announced a new system designed to verifiably hold each account's funds separately on the blockchain. 'Another disaster waiting to happen' The scale of the problem both are addressing is huge with 818,000 bitcoins being reported as stolen between 2010 and early 2014. With Karpeles being CEO of the Mt. Gox exchange when it lost US$500 million of customer deposits, his …

Mt Gox had been depleted of most of its bitcoin by 2013 according to a new report from Wizsec, the Tokyo based bitcoin security firm, which has been conducting an ongoing unofficial investigation into Mt Gox’s collapse. The theft had been ongoing since 2011 and many of the missing bitcoins were stolen straight out of Mt Gox’s hot wallet. A significant amount of the stolen bitcoins were deposited at various exchanges like BTC-e, Bitcoinica, Mt Gox itself, and other not yet identified wallets, and subsequently sold for cash. This led Mt Gox to be operating “knowingly or unknowingly” at fractional …

Leading Swiss bank UBS has announced that it will open up a lab to study blockchain technology in London; Bitcoin April Fools Day Joke roundup; and more top stories for April 2. UBS to open London technology lab to study the blockchain Continuing the trend for major financial institutions beginning to take an interest in the new FinTech sector, Swiss bank UBS is opening a London technology lab focused on how the blockchain could make financial transactions cheaper and faster. The announcement comes after UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne promised UK£10 million in research funding for digital currency …

In the latest report from WizSec, a Tokyo-based security firm, conclusive evidence has been found of insider trading and price manipulation at the defunct Mt. Gox exchange. The report states this price manipulation started in February 2013 when the price was around US$25 and continued all the way until February 2014 when the price crashed from its all time high above US$1,000. The report concludes that 570,000 BTC were bought in the period between February and November and that this definitely had a meaningful impact on price. Willy Report Overview WizSec corroborates the findings of the original Willy report, which …

The number two spot for the most hated man in Bitcoin has changed a lot. Currently, it might just be Josh Garza as many PayCoin investors are not happy with the results of that investment. For a while it was Butterfly Labs CEO Sonny Vleisides, and for a while it was that NewsWeek reporter. But the number one spot has never been up for debate. It has been and may always be, former Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles. Losing or stealing 300 million dollars worth of Bitcoin will do that to you. Now, we are finding out that he may …

Some stories do have happy endings. In a rare example of recourse for cryptocurrency carelessness, a Bitcoin user who accidentally sent 800 bitcoins to a wallet belonging to defunct exchange Mt. Gox last month said on Reddit Friday that he has recovered the money. “I have recovered my bitcoins!” the user, posting under the handle TheDJFC, wrote after another Redditor noted that the coins, currently worth about $504,000, had moved wallets. Although TheDJFC wrote that details of the exact story were still forthcoming, it appeared that he had contacted a Tokyo law firm, who in turn worked with Chinese Bitcoin …

Mt.Gox has presented the necessary documentation to Tokyo’s police to help with the investigation of the colossal Bitcoin loss on behalf of the exchange. Mt.Gox has already recovered almost 200,000 Bitcoins from a forgotten wallet. But how much more is out there? Walking through a mine field Here is what the famous (or infamous) Mark Karpeles had to say: “Following its application for commencement of civil rehabilitation, MtGox Co., Ltd. consulted with the metropolitan police department with regard to the disappearance of bitcoins which is one of the causes for said application. MtGox Co., Ltd. hereby announces that it has …

While the overall thrill on Mt.Gox case has ceased, the Japan-based service succeeds to provide rather interesting news on regular basics. The only problem is that facts dug out by hackers and enthusiasts, claims of lawyers and traces of truth spoken out by Mark Karpeles are not matching and provide a vague image even for the most dedicated followers of the case. Now it seems that at least some of the lost money has been surprisingly found, but it will not satisfy the deceived users of the exchanger. How much are 200 000 BTC Worth? The news on the recovery …

OKCoin, which claims to be the largest exchange in the country by trading volume, has raised its capital by as much as $10 million in venture capital funding. The information was provided by the Kuailiyu (Chinese site). China has many VC firms, but the funding was provided by Ceyuan that was one of the first companies that provided these services. Soon after, VentureLab, Mandra Capital and other big investors joined the effort to support Bitcoin exchange. Spending the Funds As Star Xu, Chief Executive of the OKCoin said, a large part of the money gained will spent on expanding the …

If we reject to use the term “speculation” in the case of Mt.Gox, then the details scraped up by hackers and hobby detectives definitely can be called so. The officially approved facts state that Mt.Gox collapsed leaving not serviced customers with lost funds. The assumptions, estimations and hypotheses provide more information that any official spokesperson. On the 28th of February the society was shaken with the idea of a plain loss of private keys by Mark Karpeles, the CEO and owner of the service. If the presumption proves to be true, then many BTC are floating in the online environment …