Any reports of my demise are at least slightly in error.
But, I have been laughing, a bit, about the Mt. Gox situation. Seems to me that given that since somebody made off ("Made-off"..."Madoff"; I sure wish I had been the first one to invent that joke) with 6% of the existing (?) supply of Bitcoin, it ought to be awfully difficult for the thief to remain entirely unknown, at least given enough time. After all, it is well understood that Bitcoin is merely pseudonynous, not entirely anonymous. Presuming the thief is eventually identified, I wouldn't be surprised if he (or she?) could be "convinced" to return the Bitcoin or what's left of it. I would be in favor (of course) of withholding a portion of the recovered BTC to fund what amounts to an insurance fund to cover Bitcoin exchanges, but also Silk Road 2.0 and other
systems.
Jim Bell