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Question from someone who doesn't know much about this: is it possible to know that there is a genuine market in these MtGox bitcoins i.e. that $350 is a genuine market price and not just something made up by the exchange to conceal a complete collapse in value?

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It doesn't really matter, except for people that think it is a good idea to transfer assets into MtGox.

(Because fraudulent trades hiding that they can't cover their accounts aren't much worse than the situation where they can't cover their accounts)

I suppose Gox could be buying up all the goxcoins less than $300. But then you'd see a decrease in future volume until the volume reaches zero. They wouldn't do that, because they're not smart enough to pull it off without anyone noticing.

So if hypothetically Gox was the only buyer for bitcoins trapped in Gox, would they be buying them with real USD, or with 'trapped in Gox' USD that may or may not turn out to have any value?

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