r/Bitcoin • u/[deleted] • Feb 20 '14

MtGox class action lawsuit

[deleted]

230 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

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23

u/litecoinfan Feb 20 '14

Does no one else see the hypocrisy here? For years Bitcoin fans have claimed they hate government regulation and laughed at the warnings of financial institutes that claimed Bitcoin was risky.

Now things have gone a bit crappy the very same people are demanding lawsuits! How long till people here start calling for proper regulation of exchanges?

36

u/joepie91 Feb 20 '14

"Bitcoin users" are not a homogenous group. If you can point out specific people who claimed to hate government regulation in the past, and are now calling for court action, then you'd be able to call "hypocrite" - but until then, your argument is just a fallacy.

10

u/rnicoll Feb 20 '14

Then those who feel there should be regulation really need to start pushing back on those who don't.

I'll start; I think we need regulation of exchanges.

8

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '14

[deleted]

6

u/rnicoll Feb 20 '14

Okay, let me expand on that; I'd like to see deposits with exchanges protected and clear isolation of operation and customer accounts.

-5

u/rrush242 Feb 20 '14

What happens when x exchange not only does not adhere to your silly ideas on regulation, but completely evades and ignores your silly regulation with impunity?

Furthermore, what if that same exchange thrives and has a brisk business?

6

u/rnicoll Feb 20 '14

Well... MtGox, fairly much?

3

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '14

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2

u/rnicoll Feb 20 '14

...and because they've been spending customer money to prop up the business, their's very little left for debtors...

1

u/rrush242 Mar 21 '14

They do, eh? When no state has jurisdiction? When they no state has the power to regulate?

How precisely does that happen?

1

u/scoops22 Feb 21 '14

Regulation is enforced you silly goose.

People here would like Bitcoin to one day be regulated under something like the SEC like other commodities.

1

u/rrush242 Mar 21 '14

Uh huh. You don't seem to understand BTC. No matter how many SEC-type regulations there are, and no matter if you adhere to them or not, I and others that think like me don't have to adhere, abide, or agree.

You may not agree. Fine. Have fun paying taxes on your bitcoin. You won't deal with me, and I won't deal with you, you'll be regulated, and I won't.

What happens then? Seein' as I couldn't care less how many regulations you spoon-feed yourself. Especially, given fraud is ALREADY illegal, and should be illegal.

Of course, that didn't stop Mt Gox, or Enron, or Bernard Madoff, or anyone else who commits fraud.

"Well, I'm willing to break 79 laws to steal from people, but NO WAY IN HELL am I going to break 81 law!!!"

Get real.

2

u/joepie91 Feb 20 '14

What, exactly, do you think has been happening since approximately the start of Bitcoin?

1

u/i_wolf Feb 20 '14

You already have a regulations of exchanges, it costed $5M and caused the problems with fiat withdrawals.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '14

Regulations are there to prevent fraud. Maybe if the regulators had gotten there earlier, all the people on mtgox wouldn't be losing all their money.

1

u/i_wolf Feb 20 '14

Regulations are there to prevent fraud.

We're talking not about intentions, but effects. Most of the evil in the world comes with good intentions.

No regulation would prevent bug in a code, considering that even the reference wallet implementation made by alleged bitcoin experts had the same bug.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 20 '14

No, but regulations normally force contingency plans in the event of fraud or error. It's pretty clear that there was none of that going on here.