Are these the actions of a company that intends to stay in business? I would hazard a guess that the answer to that question is "No." Who would be foolish enough to keep their money with mtgox after 3 weeks of silence, and now with them seemingly erasing their footprint off the Internet? Even the worst businessperson would know their actions are jeopardizing their viability as a business.
So, based on that assumption that they know they will no longer be in business, you need to decide, are they going to make their users whole before shutting down, or not? Again, I would hazard a guess that the high-probability answer is that they will not make their users whole. If they had enough money, it would seem that knowing they are going to go out of business, the best thing to do is make their customers whole and close up shop.
The fact they aren't do this, to me, suggests they are attempting to protect themselves. If my guess is correct, then it suggests that they don't have enough money and are trying to figure out how best to save themselves from being sued or worse.
Everything they are saying and doing is pointing to a negative outcome. Everything they are not saying and not doing is pointing to a negative outcome.
For examples of what they are doing, they have shut down withdrawals of any manner, they have moved their offices, they have erased their twitter presence.
Thing they have not done: state they are solvent. How simple of a thing for them to do - "hey, we have a security problem right now but don't worry, we are completely solvent." Instead they state things like, "Withdrawals will resume soon." That's not very specific - it could mean, "Withdrawals of 3 cents on the dollar will resume in a year and then you can make a claim to the bankruptcy court to get anymore. Good luck with that."
But let's say that all these signs pointing to a negative outcome turn out to be wrong and a positive outcome occurs. Then it's time to really investigate a current theory that they are purposely lowering the market price of Gox BTC so they can buy low and sell high on other exchanges.
I withdrew my money a couple of weeks ago to a European bank account, shortly before the news of their issues broke. It wasn't a fortune but it was a large enough amount to care about. Still hasn't made it onto my account. I doubt it ever will at this point.
I have been waiting since October for a transfer of USD to my bank account for an amount that I had sold 1 BTC for USD. I have had an open support ticket with them for 3 months now and they have held my money hostage.
Just last week when the price of BTC was lower than what I had sold mt BTC for, I asked them to cancel the withdrawal and credit my account. I then proceeded to purchase back more BTC than I had sold originally over 4 months ago.
Unfortunately my BTC is still held hostage until they reinstate BTC withdrawals but their support has confirmed that I will be able to withdraw my BTC.
There is hope. I ordered a SEPA withdrawal around New Year's Day, and received the deposit a few days ago. It was a very pleasant surprise to see the funds actually show up.
My only regret is ever going through their verification process at all. I never even ended up conducting any sort of business at the site (and I'm now grateful for this).
I have a very small amount of Bitcoin in Mt. Gox. If it never returns, it won't have a material effect on me. However, I'd obviously prefer to send it to another exchange. If anyone has new information on whether they'll ever come back online, I'd be really interested.
So, based on that assumption that they know they will no longer be in business, you need to decide, are they going to make their users whole before shutting down, or not? Again, I would hazard a guess that the high-probability answer is that they will not make their users whole. If they had enough money, it would seem that knowing they are going to go out of business, the best thing to do is make their customers whole and close up shop.
The fact they aren't do this, to me, suggests they are attempting to protect themselves. If my guess is correct, then it suggests that they don't have enough money and are trying to figure out how best to save themselves from being sued or worse.