Not So Anonymous: Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Tightens Identity Requirement

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/05/30/not-so-anonymous-bitcoin-exchange-mt-gox-tightens-identity-requirement/

by ssclafani • 13 years ago

45 26 13 years ago

forbes.com

afreak• 13 years ago

This is not really a surprise. If MtGox expects to survive as a business (if it can at all), then it will need to start tightening up the rules or else it will suffer the fate of not following regulation.

waterlesscloud• 13 years ago

The anonymity aspect of bitcoin has always been overplayed. It's possible to be anonymous, but you'd have to work at it. And the transactions themselves are in the public record forever, so you've got to never slip up, even years later. Good luck.

The most interesting news today was the interview by American Banker with the head of FinCen. The questions are pretty probing, and they get some interesting answers.

http://www.americanbanker.com/issues/178_104/fincen-chief-q-...

deoxxa• 13 years ago

I've always found that interesting. Sometimes you look at a dollar and think "where has this been?" - with bitcoin you can answer that question as far back as "who created this money" (to various degrees of pleasure or dismay.)

sliverstorm2• 13 years ago

But a bitcoin is completely abstract. It hasn't been anywhere, the way a dollar has.

brazzy• 13 years ago

In most cases the question makes no sense, as bitcoins do not have identity.

stopcyring2• 13 years ago

bitcoin laundering / zerocoin solve that.

jlgreco• 13 years ago

Can zerocoin actually be used at this point? Last I heard it wasn't anything more than a proposal yet.

verroq2• 13 years ago

Then you are placing trust on the laundary on not selling you out.

dustcoin• 13 years ago

Bitcoin itself can be used anonymously if one is careful. However, there should never had been any expectation of anonymity when exchanging for another currency that is not anonymous, like a USD bank transfer.

sliverstorm2• 13 years ago

Much like Tor; the weakest link is when you enter or exit.

hkmurakami• 13 years ago

I wonder what fraction of (1) the trade traffic, and (2) Bitcoin asset ownership cares deeply about the anonymity aspect of bitcoin.

As a corollary, I wonder what fraction of each would stop using bitcoin as a result.

bnferguson• 13 years ago

I think those that use Mt Gox aren't so concerned with anonymity. They've had some level of verification for a couple of years.

For those that are concerned with it, they use other means.

bdcravens• 13 years ago

After the big Mt. Gox hack in 2011, in order to get my funds out, I had to send a photocopy of my ID to be verified (pretty sure there were other mechanisms, but that one seemed the one with the least friction). I'm a bit surprised that there's any expectation of anonymity with Bitcoin if you're not 100% non-fiat.

drivebyacct2• 13 years ago

Sigh. MtGox != Bitcoin. It's so painful to the community and cause to perpetuate this sad meme. I for one welcome whatever might make MtGox more reliable until someone else competent comes along.

verroq2• 13 years ago

I'm sure the other exchanges will soon follow suit. Since MtGox is responsible most of the bitcoin trades it might as well be Bitcoin.

oleganza• 13 years ago

Even if MtGox handled 100% of USD-BTC trades, it is still not Bitcoin. Many more transactions are happening on Blockchain that has nothing to do with MtGox or any other currency exchange.

lucb1e• 13 years ago

Sending an identity card (including social security number), proof or residence, and lots of personal details was not enough yet? Didn't have to do any of this on Bitcoin-central, that's why I don't use gox anymore.

theboywho• 13 years ago

I think every journalist willing to write about bitcoin should know by now that mtgox security or anonymity issues has nothing to do with Bitcoin (I mean who is at Forbes and doesn't do his homework ?). This is another article that proves Forbes is clearly lobbying against Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is intended to be an anonymous decentralized solution for buying and selling stuff, you shouldn't be exchanging it for fiat money in the first place, but if you want to do so, of course you can, but then that's your own problem, not bitcoin's.

Forbes clearly doesn't want bitcoin to make it. They are saying it loud and clear by writing misleading articles.

yason• 13 years ago

There's still no substitute for cash when you need true anonymity. How long till cash is made illegal?

JackpotDen• 13 years ago

When governments adopt electronic currency.

PeterisP• 13 years ago

Large amounts of cash are already either non-anonymous or illegal in most of western world - i.e., prove and record your identity along the cash deal, or else.

Not So Anonymous: Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Tightens Identity Requirement

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