Following MtGox's monumental collapse, Bitcoin firms have been issuing their reaction to the news. Among firms, rival bitcoin exchange, BTC-e has posted that their clients have no exposure risk to MtGox as they stated:
Dear BTC-e.com participants, We are concerned by MtGox shutdown and would like to assure you that: 1. MtGox losses do not affect account balances or the operation of BTC-e in any way. 2. We confirm the Bitcoin system operation and its exciting prospects, and MtGox bankruptcy has not been caused by any underlying technical problems of Bitcoin. Bitcoin international peer-to-peer network and cryptocurrency are independent of actions of a single market participant. Bitcoin protocol continues to function exactly as it should. The cryptocurrency maintains its stability and the network will continue to develop and exist as long as required by its users. 3. At BTC-e we are constantly monitoring Bitcoin accounts and FIAT reserves. At BTC-e we continue to maintain all clients’ assets in full – both Bitcoin and FIAT. 4. BTC-е has no vulnerabilities during client transactions as we use safe and proven transaction protocols. All transaction issues reported by our clients undergo a thorough check.
Elsewhere, other bitcoin firms acted to distance themselves from MtGox and reassure customers. In a joint statement from Blockchain .info, Coinbase, Kraken, BTC China, Bitstamp, and Circle, they commented that "This tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt.Gox was the result of one company’s abhorrent actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of bitcoin and the digital currency industry." Adding that "We are confident, however, that strong Bitcoin companies, led by highly competent teams and backed by credible investors, will continue to thrive, and to fulfill the promise that bitcoin offers as the future of payment in the Internet age."
The joint statement concluded with calls for transparency and actions to reassure customers of the financial stability and safety of their funds,
Public Reaction
Reactions around the web vary from anger, to dejection, to consolation and even optimism now that MtGox is out of the picture. A survey of public sentiment shows a surprisingly high dose of the latter, with tales of horror and sob stories not quite as rampant as one would expect. Those were actually more common during the lead-up to the crash. Perhaps many aren't shocked at the final outcome. Others will still be waking up to the news. For many, there isn't much of a difference between today and yesterday, as their holdings had already shed most of their value over the last few weeks. Some are likely too stunned to react publicly. Those hit really hard will have to deal with it more offline than online. Quite a few are taking a step back to appreciate the lessons learned and encourage their peers that such tragedies are part and parcel will revolutionizing the world of finance. And there will be a few irrationally hoping that this was all a massive scare, Karpeles will emerge and sort everything out, and their holdings will one day return to the moon.
According to one report, we're looking at 750,000 BTC lost.
In the "Gox horror thread" on reddit, one user declares himself the biggest loser of over 4700 BTC (over $2.2M), saying "I don't know how dying feels, but I'm pretty sure that's how I feel now." Wisely, someone posted a link to a suicide prevention site. For many, their initial investments were on the scale of tens of thousands of dollars, but lost considerably more when accounting for BTC's appreciation. One of the most poignant was:
"I want to start off by saying that I've been waiting for this moment for a while. I knew it was bound to happen sooner or later, as soon as we weren't able to withdraw our coins from Mt. Gox weeks ago. I stupidly had my life's savings in bitcoin, and when the price started to fall, I converted to dollars and watched the price plummet. I lost $357,000. Not to try to earn a bunch of sympathy or anything but this was not only my money but it was going to be my 5 year old son's education fund which i took out of fidelity about 1 year ago to mess with bitcoins. I dont know what the **** to do any more. I'm sitting here on reddit looking for comfort or just something but I don't know what I'm going to do now at all. I don't have **** to live for any more and the only thing I have left is just talking about it here I guess. I can't express what I'm feeling right now. THat **** was just sitting there and I couldn't take it out how could this whole shop just pack up and dissapear? I don't know if anyone here knows the facts or whats going on but I want to or if you have any slighest shred of evidence that its possible they arent really gone please et me know here. if im never going to see my money again all of it im going to either kill myself which i dont want to do because i want to live even though i have nothing to live for now, except my son who is now completely ****ed"
And then folks turned to Charlie Shrem, asking if this was "the good news on the horizon you were talking about?" Shrem responded:
"If this whole thing is true, I stand corrected and have been lied to all along. We've all been lied too all along. I'm really sorry if I brought too much hope, I was just giving them benefit of the doubt. My coins in Gox are lost too. Long live Bitcoin!"
Finally, what about BitcoinBuilder, where you should be able to trade your Gox coins? GOXBTC is trading there for about 0.15 BTC- a value of about $70.5, a surprising premium people are willing to pay for something which appears to be worthless at this point.
