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If those BTC are gone, this is either the largest-scale loss of money in history or the largest scale theft of money, dwarfing even Madoff. 12,437,700 bitcoins
by miles 13y ago
If those BTC are gone, this is either the largest-scale loss of money in history or the largest scale theft of money, dwarfing even Madoff.
12,437,700 bitcoins have been mined, with a market cap today of around $7.4B [1]. Madoff scammed investors to the tune of around $50B [2], so even if MtGox owned every bitcoin ever mined, they would have a bit of catching up to do.
[1] http://bitcoinwatch.com/ http://bitcoinwatch.com/
[2] http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/12/madoff-ponzi-hedge-pf-ii-in_rl_1212croesus_inl.html http://www.forbes.com/2008/12/12/madoff-ponzi-hedge-pf-ii-in...
- GFK_of_xmaspast 13y agoThat's fiat money tho.
- saalweachter 13y agoThe final tally of Madoff's scam was $57 billion, but that number is based off the fictional account balances, including both fictional profits and reinvestments of fictional profits. Apparently about $36 billion was paid in, and $18 billion paid out, and about $10 billion recovered, leaving about $8 billion(!) "missing". All the numbers are still bigger than both BTC and Gox, though. Although, didn't the US literally lose something like $10 billion in cash in Iraq/Afghanistan?