Silk Road forums

Discussion => Security => Topic started by: leavesbrown on April 11, 2013, 01:10 am

Title: Stop using MtGox!
Post by: leavesbrown on April 11, 2013, 01:10 am
MtGox have far too much control over the bitcoin economy, its dangerous for us all and the whole bitcoin economy for one company to be controlling 80% of all exchanges.
Bitcoin's strength lies in its decentralization, this is the entire point in this currency.
It is seeming increasingly likely that today's crash is as a result of a DDoS on Gox and it is insane that one coordinated attack can cause a currency to drop 50% in value in little over an hour. DDoS attacks are easy to coordinate and it is only bad news for bitcoins that is is this easy to disrupt the entire economy.
Find another exchange to buy and sell your coins, we need Bitcoin to be as distributed as possible, this will guard against attacks and also make it much harder for banks/federal reserve and other corporate fatcats to interfere with OUR currency.
Title: Re: Stop using MtGox!
Post by: TheDude413 on April 11, 2013, 02:56 am
I definitely agree with your ideas on principle as an infrastructure with a more diverse base would lead to increased accountability and greater protection against oligarchic manipulation, but for practical purposes I think I feel more secure at Gox; using the dominant BTC exchange reduces the risk that your specific deposit will be flagged, followed and tracked to the Road. I think that this is the most perilous part of the entire drugmail process since the evidence needed to arrest/convict can be successfully compiled through traditional investigative procedures while Tor continues to stymie the Feds and USPS is so overwhelmed and oblivious there's not much risk there for small-medium quantities coming from any vendor with at least 3/4 brain.  Blending in with the crowd means more traffic for authorities to sift through (a very high percentage of which is completely legitimate) and IMO significantly decreases the likelihood that any LE analysts looking in will single you out. 

If one plans on using BTC legally I would absolutely advocate patronage of a smaller concern, but if SR is the destination prudence trumps principle for me; it's easier to cope with occasional price uncertainty than a sentence in a federal penitentiary. 
Title: Re: Stop using MtGox!
Post by: leavesbrown on April 11, 2013, 06:04 pm
This shouldn't affect buyers as much as sellers and can easily be overcome by transferring funds to and from SR via several wallets inbetween the exchanges, something we should all be doing anyway.


Seriously, stop using Gox, they're even claiming the crash yesterday as a success for them on their facebook page, the absolute cheek! Imagine, an 80% devaluation in a currency a success, the scumbags!