After reading the joint-statement on blockchain, and the fact MtGox is down now, I am scared, what are my options? Is there anyone who can help me in my situation? I purchased those coins for 800$.
Edit: MtGox files for bankruptcy protection. What is the difference between bankruptcy and bankruptcy protection? I don't know, but I don't think that I am going to see anything from there...
This is generally called counterparty risk - if your resources are in custody of someone else, there is a risk that they go bankrupt and you lose it. And in that case it is too late and your options are limited to making a sadface :( and writing it off as a loss - do note that you can get x% of the loss back from your income tax in most places.
There are options to limit that risk before it materializes - it might be too late for MtGox, but important for the future. All the lessons are pretty the same as historically for 'normal' banks before modern regulation.
Diversify the risk - if your funds are spread out among multiple institutions, then there is less chance in losing it all than putting it all in one basket;
Insure the risk - your bank deposits are insured in most countries, i.e., if the bank can't return them then the insurer pays up to a certain amount. Bitcoin companies currently aren't insured that way, however it means that when some of them get deposit insurance then that would be a serious selling point for their trustworthiness; and if (when?) regulated banks start offering bitcoin services, then you'd get that protection as well. Also, you can purchase insurance for yourself, although it might be unpleasantly expensive.
Reduce the risk - choose the company properly. Reputation certainly didn't help in MtGox case and it's not a guarantee, however, you should be looking at solid evidence that the company is solvent. I.e., you want periodic, publicly visible financial statements that are seen and analyzed by many people and that show that they really can afford to pay all the depositors back even if they have a bad day or a bad year. At the very minimum you need this to be (a) according to common accounting standards; (b) expressed by a company officer in a manner that means jail for him if (s)he lies in these statements; (c) audited by a third party - otherwise these statements are worthless, as if there will be real problems, then they will lie always. Regulators of financial institutions do much of that job for banks; not eliminating those problems but reducing them - for unregulated entities you'll have to check everything yourself.
You are not going to like this:
Man-up and accept that you took a chance using MtGox and lost. The same applies to stocks, commodities, gold, etc. You decided to keep substantial funds in an unregulated exchange in an unregulated "currency".
What was lost was the amount in fiat currency represented by the BTC at the time you deposited them, not todays, yesterdays or any other chosen dates rate. Just like buying stock--except stock exchanges are regulated.
P.S. My holdings are down too, but not via holdings at MtGox.
I received this email:
To whom it may concern,
At 5:00 p.m. on April 24, 2014, the Tokyo District Court granted the order for the commencement of the bankruptcy proceedings vis-à-vis MtGox Co., Ltd. (“MtGox”), and based upon such order, I was appointed as the bankruptcy trustee (Tokyo District Court 2014 (fu) no. 3830). The bankruptcy trustee will implement the bankruptcy proceedings, including the administration and realization of the assets and investigation of the claims. For the purpose of providing information to the related parties, we hereby inform you of the basic matters regarding the bankruptcy proceedings as attached.
This email address（[email protected]） is used only for the purpose of sending messages, and we are unable to check and respond to any replies to this email address. Since we plan to provide the information regarding the bankruptcy proceedings by posting it on the website hosted by the bankruptcy trustee ( http://www.mtgox.com/ ), please check this website.
Bankrupt MtGox Co., Ltd. Bankruptcy trustee Attorney-at-law Nobuaki Kobayashi
One of the links on the mtgox site had a Q&A section
Q. Please return the bitcoins and cash that I deposited with the Company.
A. We will make the liquidating distribution to the bankruptcy claims if funds for distribution are secured. With regard to the liquidating distribution under the bankruptcy proceedings, please see below.
Q. How many bitcoins or how much cash does the Company have?
A. The actual amount and value of bitcoins and cash of the Company will be investigated by
the bankruptcy trustee with the cooperation of certain experts, etc.
Q. Will the bankruptcy trustee investigate the bitcoins and cash that are said to be lost?
A. The bankruptcy trustee will investigate such matters to the extent possible through its
asset administration. The Company has consulted with the police authority, and the
bankruptcy trustee will also proactively cooperate with it when such cooperation is
requested.
Contact a Lawyer and sue them.
I think this question deserves a simple and direct answer.
What are my options?
None, essentially.
Is there anyone who can help me in my situation?
No. No-one can help you to retrieve your 31 bitcoins.
2013-02-28 Yahoo News report
"We're at a loss for how to help them," said Yuko Otsuki, who works in the [Consumer Affairs] agency's counseling department.
I feel very fortunate in learning before I invested in BTC the difference between public and private keys. Also knowing how to use Localbitcoins (as an example) as an exchange and being advised once I received my bitcoins at LBC not to leave them there for any time.....because you never know what will happen to any exchange. I was advised to transfer the BTC in LBC to a wallet such as Electrum which uses a random seed to generate private keys. Storing your BTC in such a way gives you far more security than leaving them deposited on an exchange.
There are people buying and selling 'MTGox BTC' for 'Real BTC' here
essentially a gamble on whetehr they payout on the accounts there. But they now it seems have stopped trading since the official insolvency declaration. However as a once (a long time ago) customer of MtGox I did see in my inbox a form entitling me to apply to get any funds I may have held in MtGox back as part of the liquidation process. I would suggest you look to that as your first avenue. Failing that as is the case in many liquidations you may never see your BTC back.
Kraken just sent an update for MtGox funds claim. Log in here - https://claims.mtgox.com/assets/index.html#/ .
Thou I have to admit I have problems logging in.
