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You may be aware already, but if you replace Pokemon with Magic the Gathering cards this actually becomes almost unbelievably close to a true story (minus the S

You may be aware already, but if you replace Pokemon with Magic the Gathering cards this actually becomes almost unbelievably close to a true story (minus the SEC story arc). The first "huge" bitcoin exchange[0] was originally a Magic card exchange which got extended to support cryptocurrencies. "Mt. Gox" = "Magic the Gathering online exchange". If it hadn't been hacked it would likely be in Coinbase's shoes right now and then your hypothetical would truly be eerily accurate. But of course it was hacked, it was a trading card exchange dealing in cryptocurrencies -- a major hack was basically inevitable. 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Gox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Gox

celdon25 3y ago
Mtgox was not run very professionally, so I doubt they would have lasted this long. I had to deal with them on IRC to get my money out. I was told that the person with the keys to get my withdrawal was “in the bathtub”. This was on the last day or so before everything was shut down and during the actual crisis, mind you.
- jack_pp 3y ago
  When your house of cards comes tumbling down might as well take a bath to relieve the stress
  - afterburner 3y ago
    No one can bother you in the bathroom.
    - hutzlibu 3y ago
      I would say that is up for debate. For example in this case: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/01/06/87-death-of-politician-still-intrigues-germans/acb38dfb-730e-4f4f-b969-dabc47145451/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/01/06/8...
    - klyrs 3y ago
      https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/fresh-grated-murder/ https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/fresh-grated-murder/
  - sleepybrett 3y ago
    "house of magic cards" maybe .. ba-dum-chaa
- fbdab103 3y ago
  After MtGox realized how much money they had lost, I would think that "in the bathtub" implied a significantly darker event than hygiene.
jonathankoren 3y ago
As an old coworker of mine said when MtGox imploded due to fraud and/or just abysmal security, “What? Don’t you do all your banking at the comic book shop?”
esotericimpl 3y ago
[dead]
tinco 3y ago
It would never have ended up in Coinbase's shoes. The founder is a notoriously bad programmer and business leader. Even if he wasn't hacked he would've gone bankrupt because of his failing market manipulation bot that was making loss despite having full info to an exchange in the most over heated market of the past 50 years. I don't think even A16Z would burn their money on MtGox.

celdon25 3y ago

Mtgox was not run very professionally, so I doubt they would have lasted this long. I had to deal with them on IRC to get my money out. I was told that the person with the keys to get my withdrawal was “in the bathtub”. This was on the last day or so before everything was shut down and during the actual crisis, mind you.

jack_pp 3y ago
When your house of cards comes tumbling down might as well take a bath to relieve the stress
- afterburner 3y ago
  No one can bother you in the bathroom.
  - hutzlibu 3y ago
    I would say that is up for debate. For example in this case: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/01/06/87-death-of-politician-still-intrigues-germans/acb38dfb-730e-4f4f-b969-dabc47145451/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/01/06/8...
  - klyrs 3y ago
    https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/fresh-grated-murder/ https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/fresh-grated-murder/
- sleepybrett 3y ago
  "house of magic cards" maybe .. ba-dum-chaa
fbdab103 3y ago
After MtGox realized how much money they had lost, I would think that "in the bathtub" implied a significantly darker event than hygiene.

jonathankoren 3y ago

As an old coworker of mine said when MtGox imploded due to fraud and/or just abysmal security, “What? Don’t you do all your banking at the comic book shop?”

esotericimpl 3y ago

[dead]

tinco 3y ago

It would never have ended up in Coinbase's shoes. The founder is a notoriously bad programmer and business leader. Even if he wasn't hacked he would've gone bankrupt because of his failing market manipulation bot that was making loss despite having full info to an exchange in the most over heated market of the past 50 years. I don't think even A16Z would burn their money on MtGox.