For months now, Bitcoin soothsayers have proclaimed that the virtual currency is going to Change Everything. The mass adoption of Bitcoin, they told us, would utterly transform the way the world stores and exchanges value. Government-backed currency would become obsolete. Farmers in Kenya would use the same Bitcoin-based payment systems as cafés in the Mission. With the future of money in the hands of Satoshi Nakamoto's brilliant protocol, inexact central planning would be replaced by algorithmic decentralization.
Of course, none of that has happened. And it's exceedingly likely that none of it will.
You can find many of the loonier Bitcoin proclamations on the r/bitcoin subreddit. (One recent call-to-arms, written by Bitcoin entrepreneur Erik Voorhees, included lines like "We are building a new financial order, and those of us building it, investing in it, and growing it, will pay the price of bringing it to the world.")
Edit:
Top comment from the article
This article is a joke. Way to strawman those involved with bitcoin. Not everyone is a fanatic and businesses failing will just lead to better ones filling the gap. Even if you don't like it the amount of potential profit to be made for creating the infrastructure is huge. Bitstamp said they will release their financial report soon. You will understand when you see it why VC throw money in btc businesses.
way to prove his point.
SmallLady on
"we're just doing what smalllady told us to do" - @Heels
I saw someone recently post that the Mtgox bring down was obviously the federal government taking out a competitor.
I mentioned this to one of my crazier friends and he apparently thought it was a reasonable concept. I was pretty flabbergasted and struggled to come up with an articulate response. It was something along the lines of, "With all of the things I'm sure the government would like to do on the internet, you think they've run down the list far enough to get to 'fuck with crypto nerds operating a ponzi scheme?'"
What is this I don't even.
+2
TL DRNot at all confident in his reflexive opinions of thingsRegistered Userregular
I wonder if the FBI sold all those silk road coins
I wonder if the FBI sold all those silk road coins
Thats how we can fix the US deficit
Sell off all the coins at top dollar at once, and the market flood causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins..
Its so simple!
+3
Apothe0sisHave you ever questioned the nature of your reality?Registered Userregular
edited March 2014
Flexcoin reveal, taking bets now:
Virtual Router UTM Gateway coded in Javascript
Mail Transfer agent implemented in Flash
Database Engine created in MATLAB
Dark horse - Batch/shells scripts implemented in nothing but C Macros
Anything Written in Java (trolololol)
Virtual Router UTM Gateway coded in Javascript
Mail Transfer agent implemented in Flash
Database Engine created in MATLAB
Dark horse - Batch/shells scripts implemented in nothing but C Macros
Anything Written in Java (trolololol)
Internal theft/scam all along
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
function verify_password($pwd) {
//TODO: implement verification
return true;
}
+28
Apothe0sisHave you ever questioned the nature of your reality?Registered Userregular
Well OBVIOUSLY that.
But after the SSH in PHP reveal from MtGox I have come to both expect and hope for technological innovations that people have neither anticipated nor desired.
Virtual Router UTM Gateway coded in Javascript
Mail Transfer agent implemented in Flash
Database Engine created in MATLAB
Dark horse - Batch/shells scripts implemented in nothing but C Macros
Anything Written in Java (trolololol)
I'm gonna go with "network security consists of putting a padlock on the door to the server room," because I roll low-tech.
I submitted an entry to Lego Ideas, and if 10,000 people support me, it'll be turned into an actual Lego set!If you'd like to see and support my submission, follow this link.
Virtual Router UTM Gateway coded in Javascript
Mail Transfer agent implemented in Flash
Database Engine created in MATLAB
Dark horse - Batch/shells scripts implemented in nothing but C Macros
Anything Written in Java (trolololol)
I'm gonna go with "network security consists of putting a padlock on the door to the server room," because I roll low-tech.
My thought is that the Accounts Administrator was in a car accident and after a couple of days someone checked their work to find he/she had been writing fan fiction instead of doing the accounts.
My thought is that the Accounts Administrator was in a car accident and after a couple of days someone checked their work to find he/she had been writing fan fiction instead of doing the accounts.
That, or he was trying to climb the Hearthstone ladder.
As long as you put up a quick press release telling your users that you were criminally incompetent and lost their money (which could always be a front for having stolen it), it's apparently OK with the BTC community.
As long as you put up a quick press release telling your users that you were criminally incompetent and lost their money (which could always be a front for having stolen it), it's apparently OK with the BTC community.
If they don't do their job right, then the business will lose customers.
They decided that banking transactions shouldn't be atomic transactions. Hilarity ensued.
What Happens Now?
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
I take 'full responsibility' and will 'repay the debt'. And what I mean by that is that I'm going to use your funds to cover the debt.
But don't worry. It's just 'temporary'. You'll be getting that BTC back in the very nearish future.
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
hahahaa. "We can randomly take 12.3% of your money, and there's nothing you can do about it. See how superior we are to conventional banking?"
It's like watching a train crash in super slow motion, only half the passengers are hanging out the windows screaming "NO NO EVERYTHING IS FINE! THIS IS THE TRAIN OF THE FUTUUUUUURE!!"
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKERS
+21
L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
hahahaa. "We can randomly take 12.3% of your money, and there's nothing you can do about it. See how superior we are to conventional banking?"
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
hahahaa. "We can randomly take 12.3% of your money, and there's nothing you can do about it. See how superior we are to conventional banking?"
The irony being that's exactly how banks behave?
I'm not a fan of banks / bankers, but I can't say that I've ever woken-up to an e-mail or phone call informing me that 12% of my funds were being outright taken to cover a loss caused by digital mole men.
I know my experience isn't universal, but I'm thinking banks don't regularly just take people's money (charge them for stupid fees? Sure. Take a 12% cut out of your balance because, hey, why not? Not so much).
Virtual Router UTM Gateway coded in Javascript
Mail Transfer agent implemented in Flash
Database Engine created in MATLAB
Dark horse - Batch/shells scripts implemented in nothing but C Macros
Anything Written in Java (trolololol)
In the last thread, we found one of the smaller exchanges using floating point math to keep track of account balances. That one's always a nice punchline.
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
hahahaa. "We can randomly take 12.3% of your money, and there's nothing you can do about it. See how superior we are to conventional banking?"
The irony being that's exactly how banks behave?
Yeah, you need to show that this has happened somewhere.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
+1
L Ron HowardThe duckMinnesotaRegistered Userregular
I must completely misunderstand how banks work, then.
I'll just shut up now.
+1
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
hahahaa. "We can randomly take 12.3% of your money, and there's nothing you can do about it. See how superior we are to conventional banking?"
The irony being that's exactly how banks behave?
I'm not a fan of banks / bankers, but I can't say that I've ever woken-up to an e-mail or phone call informing me that 12% of my funds were being outright taken to cover a loss caused by digital mole men.
I know my experience isn't universal, but I'm thinking banks don't regularly just take people's money (charge them for stupid fees? Sure. Take a 12% cut out of your balance because, hey, why not? Not so much).
yea the only time I've heard about it recently is Greece I believe?
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
hahahaa. "We can randomly take 12.3% of your money, and there's nothing you can do about it. See how superior we are to conventional banking?"
The irony being that's exactly how banks behave?
I'm not a fan of banks / bankers, but I can't say that I've ever woken-up to an e-mail or phone call informing me that 12% of my funds were being outright taken to cover a loss caused by digital mole men.
I know my experience isn't universal, but I'm thinking banks don't regularly just take people's money (charge them for stupid fees? Sure. Take a 12% cut out of your balance because, hey, why not? Not so much).
yea the only time I've heard about it recently is Greece I believe?
You haven't heard about it recently because banks are regulated and insured so don't typically run into a situation where medium term they can't repay all depositors. What he is doing isn't that far off of what would happen if there wasn't an FDIC and such and a bank lost 10% of their capital somehow.
The situation where some accounts are paid in full while the last to come are paid at 0% is what happens when you're trying to hide insolvency. I'd give the guy credit if the coding error wasn't so stupid I understood it.
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
hahahaa. "We can randomly take 12.3% of your money, and there's nothing you can do about it. See how superior we are to conventional banking?"
The irony being that's exactly how banks behave?
I'm not a fan of banks / bankers, but I can't say that I've ever woken-up to an e-mail or phone call informing me that 12% of my funds were being outright taken to cover a loss caused by digital mole men.
I know my experience isn't universal, but I'm thinking banks don't regularly just take people's money (charge them for stupid fees? Sure. Take a 12% cut out of your balance because, hey, why not? Not so much).
yea the only time I've heard about it recently is Greece I believe?
But that was a "deposit tax" to make sure the entire country's financial system didn't disappear. Not exactly "we forgot to check if people had a negative balance before running their transactions".
0
No-QuarterNothing To FearBut Fear ItselfRegistered Userregular
This thread is like a beautiful and devoted wife I can come home to everyday expecting a kiss, a backrub, and a goblet of wine made from sweet sweet schadenfreude.
Virtual Router UTM Gateway coded in Javascript But that was a "deposit tax" to make sure the entire country's financial system didn't disappear. Not exactly "we forgot to check if people had a negative balance before running their transactions".
Mail Transfer agent implemented in Flash
Database Engine created in MATLAB
Dark horse - Batch/shells scripts implemented in nothing but C Macros
Anything Written in Java (trolololol)
In the last thread, we found one of the smaller exchanges using floating point math to keep track of account balances. That one's always a nice punchline.
Did we actually find one of those? I can only remember a discussion about how bitcoins were "infinitely divisible" but that using floating point to do that would be the worst idea ever and using integer math would mean requiring an infinite number of bits to represent the value (and thus bloating the blockchain hugely while simultaneously limiting how many transactions you could process even further). Making them not, in practical terms, infinitely divisible.
Tri-Optimum reminds you that there are only one-hundred-sixty-three shopping days until Christmas. Just 1 extra work cycle twice a week will give you the spending money you need to make this holiday a very special one.
Virtual Router UTM Gateway coded in Javascript But that was a "deposit tax" to make sure the entire country's financial system didn't disappear. Not exactly "we forgot to check if people had a negative balance before running their transactions".
Mail Transfer agent implemented in Flash
Database Engine created in MATLAB
Dark horse - Batch/shells scripts implemented in nothing but C Macros
Anything Written in Java (trolololol)
In the last thread, we found one of the smaller exchanges using floating point math to keep track of account balances. That one's always a nice punchline.
Did we actually find one of those? I can only remember a discussion about how bitcoins were "infinitely divisible" but that using floating point to do that would be the worst idea ever and using integer math would mean requiring an infinite number of bits to represent the value (and thus bloating the blockchain hugely while simultaneously limiting how many transactions you could process even further). Making them not, in practical terms, infinitely divisible.
They're not "infinitely divisible" any more than they have "no transaction fees". The protocol is fixed-point and goes out to eight (I believe) decimal places; any extension to that would require a majority of the network to agree.
There was some exchange that was using good old IEEE 754 double-precision floats to keep track of account balances in both bitcoins and USD, which became obvious really quickly when it showed account balances of, e.g., $1.000000000000321 after the first couple of transactions. I'll see if I can find it later.
Virtual Router UTM Gateway coded in Javascript But that was a "deposit tax" to make sure the entire country's financial system didn't disappear. Not exactly "we forgot to check if people had a negative balance before running their transactions".
Mail Transfer agent implemented in Flash
Database Engine created in MATLAB
Dark horse - Batch/shells scripts implemented in nothing but C Macros
Anything Written in Java (trolololol)
In the last thread, we found one of the smaller exchanges using floating point math to keep track of account balances. That one's always a nice punchline.
Did we actually find one of those? I can only remember a discussion about how bitcoins were "infinitely divisible" but that using floating point to do that would be the worst idea ever and using integer math would mean requiring an infinite number of bits to represent the value (and thus bloating the blockchain hugely while simultaneously limiting how many transactions you could process even further). Making them not, in practical terms, infinitely divisible.
They're not "infinitely divisible" any more than they have "no transaction fees". The protocol is fixed-point and goes out to eight (I believe) decimal places; any extension to that would require a majority of the network to agree.
There was some exchange that was using good old IEEE 754 double-precision floats to keep track of account balances in both bitcoins and USD, which became obvious really quickly when it showed account balances of, e.g., $1.000000000000321 after the first couple of transactions. I'll see if I can find it later.
That's even better. Hooray for amateur hour at the pretend banks.
Tri-Optimum reminds you that there are only one-hundred-sixty-three shopping days until Christmas. Just 1 extra work cycle twice a week will give you the spending money you need to make this holiday a very special one.
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
hahahaa. "We can randomly take 12.3% of your money, and there's nothing you can do about it. See how superior we are to conventional banking?"
The irony being that's exactly how banks behave?
Yeah, you need to show that this has happened somewhere.
It happens, but its generally a symptom of a banking system that's badly regulated, has totally gone to shit, or both. In the US you have to have more than 250k in the bank before this is even a possibility in a worst case scenerio.
0
HedgethornAssociate Professor of Historical Hobby HorsesIn the Lions' DenRegistered Userregular
I never considered myself a good programmer. I made a decent living for a few years at a government contractor, but thankfully there were much better programmers than I keeping a close watch over my work.
But these Bitcoin exchanges seem to have been written by the guys who sat in the back row playing Counterstrike during every Computer Science course I ever took. Performing financial transactions simultaneously without any sort of data locking? Did these people never read a single page of a database textbook?
It'd be downright depressing if it wasn't also so hilarious.
I take full responsibility for this and am committed to repaying the debt of BTC. The exchange funds are 12.3% short. Because there is not enough BTC to cover everyone's balances, all balances will temporarily be deducted by 12.3%. Please understand that this is an absolute necessity--if I did not make this adjustment, people would most likely withdraw all their BTC as soon as possible in order to make sure they weren't left in that remaining 12.3%. Aside from the obvious drawback of most of the BTC being taken out of the exchange, this would not be fair--some people would get all of their money right away, and a few would get none right away.
hahahaa. "We can randomly take 12.3% of your money, and there's nothing you can do about it. See how superior we are to conventional banking?"
Hoooo my sweet bibby jeezus...
One thing has already been done: the withdrawal daemon now checks for negative balances before processing withdrawals and will freeze any account with a negative balance. This effectively prevents the exploit from being used again, but it is only a hotfix.
This is just... I... wat? You were operating like a bank/exchange and you didn't even think to validate balances on accounts with incoming/outgoing transactions?! WHAT?! How the fuck do these people manage to set up entire exchange-sites?! They can't even fucking operate a checkbook!
For a group that's really angry about The Man fucking them over financially they are really, really fucking stupid with their money... and even dumber for going "gee, that's OK, at least you told us" to the guy who just told them he's taking 12% of their imaginary-money.
Posts
Somebody edit that graph of predicted bitcoin value over time with the y-axis renamed "thread hilarity"
I am looking for some go getter investors to help Beenz, if you are interested
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beenz.com
Edit:
Top comment from the article
way to prove his point.
I mentioned this to one of my crazier friends and he apparently thought it was a reasonable concept. I was pretty flabbergasted and struggled to come up with an articulate response. It was something along the lines of, "With all of the things I'm sure the government would like to do on the internet, you think they've run down the list far enough to get to 'fuck with crypto nerds operating a ponzi scheme?'"
Thats how we can fix the US deficit
Sell off all the coins at top dollar at once, and the market flood causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins, which causes a spike, which makes the US sell off all the coins at once, which causes a crash, which the US uses to buy back all the coins..
Its so simple!
Virtual Router UTM Gateway coded in Javascript
Mail Transfer agent implemented in Flash
Database Engine created in MATLAB
Dark horse - Batch/shells scripts implemented in nothing but C Macros
Anything Written in Java (trolololol)
Internal theft/scam all along
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
function verify_password($pwd) { //TODO: implement verification return true; }But after the SSH in PHP reveal from MtGox I have come to both expect and hope for technological innovations that people have neither anticipated nor desired.
I'm gonna go with "network security consists of putting a padlock on the door to the server room," because I roll low-tech.
Physical security is the best security.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=499580
They decided that banking transactions shouldn't be atomic transactions. Hilarity ensued.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
That, or he was trying to climb the Hearthstone ladder.
If they don't do their job right, then the business will lose customers.
The free market works!
I take 'full responsibility' and will 'repay the debt'. And what I mean by that is that I'm going to use your funds to cover the debt.
But don't worry. It's just 'temporary'. You'll be getting that BTC back in the very nearish future.
It's like watching a train crash in super slow motion, only half the passengers are hanging out the windows screaming "NO NO EVERYTHING IS FINE! THIS IS THE TRAIN OF THE FUTUUUUUURE!!"
The irony being that's exactly how banks behave?
I'm not a fan of banks / bankers, but I can't say that I've ever woken-up to an e-mail or phone call informing me that 12% of my funds were being outright taken to cover a loss caused by digital mole men.
I know my experience isn't universal, but I'm thinking banks don't regularly just take people's money (charge them for stupid fees? Sure. Take a 12% cut out of your balance because, hey, why not? Not so much).
In the last thread, we found one of the smaller exchanges using floating point math to keep track of account balances. That one's always a nice punchline.
Yeah, you need to show that this has happened somewhere.
Let 'em eat fucking pineapples!
I'll just shut up now.
yea the only time I've heard about it recently is Greece I believe?
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
You haven't heard about it recently because banks are regulated and insured so don't typically run into a situation where medium term they can't repay all depositors. What he is doing isn't that far off of what would happen if there wasn't an FDIC and such and a bank lost 10% of their capital somehow.
The situation where some accounts are paid in full while the last to come are paid at 0% is what happens when you're trying to hide insolvency. I'd give the guy credit if the coding error wasn't so stupid I understood it.
Cyprus, actually.
But that was a "deposit tax" to make sure the entire country's financial system didn't disappear. Not exactly "we forgot to check if people had a negative balance before running their transactions".
Did we actually find one of those? I can only remember a discussion about how bitcoins were "infinitely divisible" but that using floating point to do that would be the worst idea ever and using integer math would mean requiring an infinite number of bits to represent the value (and thus bloating the blockchain hugely while simultaneously limiting how many transactions you could process even further). Making them not, in practical terms, infinitely divisible.
They're not "infinitely divisible" any more than they have "no transaction fees". The protocol is fixed-point and goes out to eight (I believe) decimal places; any extension to that would require a majority of the network to agree.
There was some exchange that was using good old IEEE 754 double-precision floats to keep track of account balances in both bitcoins and USD, which became obvious really quickly when it showed account balances of, e.g., $1.000000000000321 after the first couple of transactions. I'll see if I can find it later.
That's even better. Hooray for amateur hour at the pretend banks.
It happens, but its generally a symptom of a banking system that's badly regulated, has totally gone to shit, or both. In the US you have to have more than 250k in the bank before this is even a possibility in a worst case scenerio.
But these Bitcoin exchanges seem to have been written by the guys who sat in the back row playing Counterstrike during every Computer Science course I ever took. Performing financial transactions simultaneously without any sort of data locking? Did these people never read a single page of a database textbook?
It'd be downright depressing if it wasn't also so hilarious.
Hoooo my sweet bibby jeezus...
This is just... I... wat? You were operating like a bank/exchange and you didn't even think to validate balances on accounts with incoming/outgoing transactions?! WHAT?! How the fuck do these people manage to set up entire exchange-sites?! They can't even fucking operate a checkbook!
For a group that's really angry about The Man fucking them over financially they are really, really fucking stupid with their money... and even dumber for going "gee, that's OK, at least you told us" to the guy who just told them he's taking 12% of their imaginary-money.