<p>To confirm the ownership of bitcoins, one <a href="https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3898/how-does-sign-message-work">must create a message signed by the private key</a> of the Bitcoin address, with a message in context. If the message is unique enough, such as a full sentence or paragraph that is relevant and Mt. Gox acknowledges it  publicly through their website or other means, one can sufficiently conclude that they do have private keys to an address they signed with.</p>

<p>None such such message exists for the "finding", nor have they publicly admitted to ownership. All claims of "finding" is pure speculation.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-13T10:35:23.757Z
...or moving the bitcoins on another account.
Riccardo Casatta
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-13T18:34:15.517Z
@RiccardoCasatta how would you prove that they have of the bitcoins being moved? Bitstamp could move their coins, and every other exchange can claim that it was theirs.
John T
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-14T07:59:07.160Z
you say, i will move X bitcoin on this new address as a proof of reserve. I don't think any other exchange will move there their money. This is what mark kerpeles have done some times ago forced by the community. I think the investigaton about this 200k BTC was started from there
Riccardo Casatta
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-12T04:15:57.220Z
2014-04-12T04:15:57.220Z
2017-04-13T12:47:33.610Z
John T
<p>On March 2014, MtGox allegedly reported the finding of 180-200k bitcoins "lying around" in some wallet.</p>

<p>Was it really confirmed?</p>

<p>The amount of speculation and click-grabbing media reports make it skettish to believe.</p>

<p>Sources please.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-12T04:21:52.370Z
I won't give the pageview hungry media outlets more clickthroughs. If you are here and want to read where people said it, just google it.
Mindwin Remember Monica
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-04-16T13:04:16.740Z
This is not a question.
T9b
<mtgox>
Was the claim of finding 180-200k bitcoins MtGox issued confirmed?
Mindwin Remember Monica
# Was the claim of finding 180-200k bitcoins MtGox issued confirmed?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-04-11)

On March 2014, MtGox allegedly reported the finding of 180-200k bitcoins "lying around" in some wallet.

Was it really confirmed?

The amount of speculation and click-grabbing media reports make it skettish to believe.

Sources please.

**Tags:** mtgox

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: I won't give the pageview hungry media outlets more clickthroughs. If you are here and want to read where people said it, just google it.  
> **username_1**: This is not a question.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-04-12. Score: 0

To confirm the ownership of bitcoins, one [must create a message signed by the private key](https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/3898/how-does-sign-message-work) of the Bitcoin address, with a message in context. If the message is unique enough, such as a full sentence or paragraph that is relevant and Mt. Gox acknowledges it publicly through their website or other means, one can sufficiently conclude that they do have private keys to an address they signed with.

None such such message exists for the "finding", nor have they publicly admitted to ownership. All claims of "finding" is pure speculation.

> **Comments:**
> **username_3**: ...or moving the bitcoins on another account.  
> **username_2**: @username_3 how would you prove that they have of the bitcoins being moved? Bitstamp could move their coins, and every other exchange can claim that it was theirs.  
> **username_3**: you say, i will move X bitcoin on this new address as a proof of reserve. I don't think any other exchange will move there their money. This is what mark kerpeles have done some times ago forced by the community. I think the investigaton about this 200k BTC was started from there  

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