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Ah, how good it feels to not have been a greedy bitcoin evangelist. That is, 90% of the people pushing positive opinions about Bitcoin, have a stake in it, in investment - not actual, real use. Just a 'hope it goes up, so I can make money like a bandit.'

The truth is that if one really wanted to assist Bitcoin, they'd buy a few; not a treasure trove for speculative investment.

The really sad thing about this situation is that Bitcoin investors are not the usual class of investors that measure safety, volatility, and other factors. These are your hardware monkeys and computer geeks who have 15k saved up, find an investment they can finally relate to, and foolishly attach all their emotion to their savings floating inside a glass ball. I wish our kind could be more rational when it comes to enthusiasm and unbridled ignorance surrounding bits and bytes. Because it usually doesn't hurt us but when it does, we never see it coming.

The vast majority of bitcoin users aren't in it just for speculation. Besides this only affects Mt. Gox and not the dozens of other trade floors that are legitimate. If you'd do even a modicum of research you'd find there is more to Bitcoin than ponzi scheme price pumping.
dozens of other trade floors that are legitimate.

Do any of these "legitimate" trading houses let you sell Bitcoins and then /take out the money/, yet?

Until that's actually possible, for decent amounts, as a regular thing, Bitcoin's price is a sham of artificially trapping and holding people's money.

I sold 2BTC on coinbase (a YC comapny) recently. So no the price is not a sham.
That's not enough evidence to support that claim.

When anyone can sell any amount of bitcoins they like so the price could adjust freely, then the price would not be a scam.

But anyone CAN sell bitcoins freely. Just because you've tied them up in an exchange doesn't prevent bitcoins from being sold.
In pure numbers, it affects around 10 - 12% of the market to be precise.
Would be interested to see a source for this figure. I might have thought the estimate to be somewhat higher.
> The truth is that if one really wanted to assist Bitcoin, they'd buy a few; not a treasure trove for speculative investment.

Why? What's the difference?

The same affect as any collecting. Dispersing helps the economy, whereas hording has a chilling effect.
How is buying and holding for long durations any different from destroying coins, at least until those coins are sold?

EDIT: Btw, I don't think we're as far apart as it may seem. I co-created Freicoin afterall. But in this case I'm not sure there's a notable difference until the coins re-enter circulation.

"We are currently at a turning point for the business. I can't tell much more for now as this also involves other parties."

No shit it involves other parties: all your customers, for one.

Wow. I can't believe with all of the money that they made that they can't afford a professional crisis management team.

This is the end for Gox and Karpeles. There is literally nothing they could do at this point to turn it around.

To quote /r/Bitcoin:

    "If there will ever be a book on MtGox, it will have two Chapter 11s"
Turning into an epic fiasco, I'd say. This story is unfolding like the second half of every episode for American Greed that I've ever seen on CNBC. You'd swear it's the same story over and over just the character names have been changed.

My prognosis is Bitcoin will survive and thrive as a technology, but current Bitcoin businesses and investments are about to take a big hit.

This is what their website says: " Dear MtGox Customers,

In light of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox's operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly.

Best regards, MtGox Team"

Well yes, it is at a turning point. It has turned straight down. It has hit rock-bottom and is starting to dig.
So they got acquired and all the Bitcoin investors will get pennies per each coin. I think that's the best case scenario right now.
Sure. A turning point from bad to worse.
I just hope MT Gox doesn't take the rest of us down with them.
This was posted over 2 hours ago..... Whats with the duplicates? Can't people use search here?