From all the news surrounding Gox’s demise, it seems pretty certain at this point that it was operating with a fractional reserve, trading with only a small proportion of the money that it was supposed to have. The question now is, how can we be sure that others aren’t doing it, too?
Whether you’re a straightforward bitcoin wallet or an exchange, the hope is that you’ll have enough bitcoins to cover everyone’s accounts, should they all decide to empty their funds at once. This week, large bitcoin companies seemed eager to persuade people that they did.
In their joint statement condemning Gox, five major exchanges explained that they would be “coordinating efforts over the coming days to publicly reassure customers and the general public that all funds continue to be held in a safe and secure manner”. How do they do that, exactly?
February 27, 2014 at 05:19AM
