Hey boys, Jim Lahey here to give you a quick update on what has been going on lately with MTGox, BTC-e, and an individual named Alexander Vinnik.
The Quick and the Dirty
Long story very short, in 2013/2014 the leading bitcoin exchange, MtGox, suspended trading and its exchange service announcing roughly 750,000+ bitcoins had gone missing and/or stolen. Turns out a few years prior in 2011 the private keys to MtGox's wallet were stolen.
How?
A copied wallet file.
News broke today of the identity of the man behind the scenes (Vinnik). This goofy bastard has traded nearly four billion (with a 'b') USD in Bitcoins since his initial 'heist' in 2011. Personally, I don't believe he acted alone.
Bubbles: "Oh my fuck..."
BTC-e
You may have noticed BTC-e has gone down as of yesterday, and while this is definitely linked to MTGox and Vinnik it isn't clear just yet how far down this rabbit hole goes.
What's to come of BTC-e? No one knows... yet, but they've promised to go live in the next five to 10 days.
Time will tell.
Moral of the Story
If you're not actively trading your bitcoins or altcoins, get those fuckers off the exchanges and into wallets where you hold the private keys!