Mt Gox was a centralized exchange, the first to exist in fact. Basically a lot of people putting their coins into someone else's wallet. For "convenient" exchanges to and from fiat instead of exchanging directly or buying consumer goods directly.
Mt Gox got hacked, it was a poorly written website full of security hole, just like any bank. Their wallet keys where leaked and soon the hackers had all the coins. Because this happened early on the impact on price was pretty big. From $100 to $1100 then down to $200.
The fact that its on the NY stock exchange mean someone has control.
Nowadays everything is listed on the stock exchanges, they even have "futures markets" where buy buy a virtual version of the asset, not even a real thing. If you lose you go into severe debt, if you win you make a shitload of money. It's the peak of rigged markets and the reason why house prices are so insanely high right now, why gold and silver isn't going up as fast as Bitcoin even tho they should.
Even if its totally secure I dont see how the government can be kept out.
The key is control. The phone system may have been private, but it was always centralized, hence always possible to listen to every call. The government can easily infiltrate such business and force them to spy or give the government access.
With Bitcoin you are in control, you hold your own keys and the only way the government could mess with you is by physically arrest you then maybe torture you until you give up the key. They could also torture you until you tell them where you hide your gold, so it's about the same level of security.
That said, if you put your coins in someone else's wallet, or your gold in someone else's vault, you no longer have control.
Mt Gox is long gone, bankrupt, owners sued, although they still had a pretty huge stash of Bitcoin which they have paid fines years after the collapse, after the value went up. Everyone got fully compensated for their loss, tho in fiat so they missed out on their crypto gains.
Exchanges is, and will always be a weak spot, just like banks. This is why people say "not your keys, not your coins". Only keep on exchange what you can afford to lose, and don't keep it there for long.
There's always been ways to use Bitcoin, even without internet, or connectivity in general. Out of all systems online that can fail, Bitcoin will be the last thing to go offline. People have made transaction over satellite, CB radio, wifi, bluetooth, nfc and all kinds of alternative protocols. In a recent power outage I supplied power to the modem via a battery and managed to send and receive crypto that way, even tho DNS and all centralized services where unreachable.
But in general, there should always be offline alternatives. And that's the good thing about Bitcoin, because it's market valued it's perfect for barter with gold, silver or any other items, just like you would barter with gild, silver, bullets, cigarettes or eggs in a SHTF situation. It will help establish a barter economy. Fiat on the other hand could never do that. It'll just crash and then you'll be back using bullet,s gold, silver, cigarettes and eggs anyway, assuming the society isn't falling into complete chaos as people panics when they don't know what to do.
Mt Gox was a centralized exchange, the first to exist in fact. Basically a lot of people putting their coins into someone else's wallet. For "convenient" exchanges to and from fiat instead of exchanging directly or buying consumer goods directly.
Mt Gox got hacked, it was a poorly written website full of security hole, just like any bank. Their wallet keys where leaked and soon the hackers had all the coins. Because this happened early on the impact on price was pretty big. From $100 to $1100 then down to $200.
Nowadays everything is listed on the stock exchanges, they even have "futures markets" where buy buy a virtual version of the asset, not even a real thing. If you lose you go into severe debt, if you win you make a shitload of money. It's the peak of rigged markets and the reason why house prices are so insanely high right now, why gold and silver isn't going up as fast as Bitcoin even tho they should.
The key is control. The phone system may have been private, but it was always centralized, hence always possible to listen to every call. The government can easily infiltrate such business and force them to spy or give the government access.
With Bitcoin you are in control, you hold your own keys and the only way the government could mess with you is by physically arrest you then maybe torture you until you give up the key. They could also torture you until you tell them where you hide your gold, so it's about the same level of security.
That said, if you put your coins in someone else's wallet, or your gold in someone else's vault, you no longer have control.
The Mt Gox weakness has been fixed? Or are exchanges still a weak spot? Is there a plan for lost internet?
Mt Gox is long gone, bankrupt, owners sued, although they still had a pretty huge stash of Bitcoin which they have paid fines years after the collapse, after the value went up. Everyone got fully compensated for their loss, tho in fiat so they missed out on their crypto gains.
Exchanges is, and will always be a weak spot, just like banks. This is why people say "not your keys, not your coins". Only keep on exchange what you can afford to lose, and don't keep it there for long.
There's always been ways to use Bitcoin, even without internet, or connectivity in general. Out of all systems online that can fail, Bitcoin will be the last thing to go offline. People have made transaction over satellite, CB radio, wifi, bluetooth, nfc and all kinds of alternative protocols. In a recent power outage I supplied power to the modem via a battery and managed to send and receive crypto that way, even tho DNS and all centralized services where unreachable.
But in general, there should always be offline alternatives. And that's the good thing about Bitcoin, because it's market valued it's perfect for barter with gold, silver or any other items, just like you would barter with gild, silver, bullets, cigarettes or eggs in a SHTF situation. It will help establish a barter economy. Fiat on the other hand could never do that. It'll just crash and then you'll be back using bullet,s gold, silver, cigarettes and eggs anyway, assuming the society isn't falling into complete chaos as people panics when they don't know what to do.
You make a hell of a case for it.