>If you want to start an online financial services business, the first thing to do is start researching the legal requirements for doing business...
This is a bit naive isn't it? Imagine contacting FINCEN, or whatever other appropriate regulatory agencies at the time of MtGox's founding when Bitcoin was a novelty and worth practically nothing. Imagine trying to explain to them what a "Bitcoin" is. Imagine being thrown out of their offices "Go away kid. Grown-ups are working here." Even if you did find some reasonable solution, compliance would have probably made the proposition unprofitable. Bitcoin might never have got off the ground if your advice were followed rigorously.
OTOH, it is certainly unforgivable for Kerpales to have continued in shooting from the hip after becoming a millionaire; and after MtGox was raking in the kind of fees that would have supported hiring legal staff, building a robust trading engine, and implementing some sane practices for data protection.
> This is a bit naive isn't it? Imagine contacting FINCEN, or whatever other appropriate regulatory agencies at the time of MtGox's founding when Bitcoin was a novelty and worth practically nothing. Imagine trying to explain to them what a "Bitcoin" is.
Much of the financial regulation that exists that would apply to MtGox has nothing to do with Bitcoin per se, it has to do with keeping customer accounts denominated in fiat currency and disbursing funds at customer direction from those accounts to accounts of other customers.
This is a bit naive isn't it? Imagine contacting FINCEN, or whatever other appropriate regulatory agencies at the time of MtGox's founding when Bitcoin was a novelty and worth practically nothing. Imagine trying to explain to them what a "Bitcoin" is. Imagine being thrown out of their offices "Go away kid. Grown-ups are working here." Even if you did find some reasonable solution, compliance would have probably made the proposition unprofitable. Bitcoin might never have got off the ground if your advice were followed rigorously.
OTOH, it is certainly unforgivable for Kerpales to have continued in shooting from the hip after becoming a millionaire; and after MtGox was raking in the kind of fees that would have supported hiring legal staff, building a robust trading engine, and implementing some sane practices for data protection.