Megaupload was taken down in January 2012. Kim Dotcom swore revenge on several levels, returned under the wing of MEGA, then left mentioning a hostile Chinese takeover, and for several months now has been promising a second comeback. The debut of Megaupload 2.0 was supposed to be on January 20, but that date passed without news. According to Dotcom himself, some issues arose that will require a couple more days.
A Missed Launch
The 20th of January is behind us, and Megaupload 2.0 did not appear. The new service by Kim Dotcom (technically, a sort of promoter or "tech evangelist" of it) was announced in July of last year, and since then many users have been waiting to see closely what it has to offer. At that time Dotcom talked about 100 gigabytes, synchronization and unlimited transfers, built-in encryption, servers outside the United States, and "something" related to Bitcoin.
Apparently, that "something" turned out to be Bitcache, a platform that in theory will be used to link file transfers to Bitcoin transactions, thus adding a layer of anonymity. This worries the Bitcoin community for logical reasons. Dotcom is a prosecuted man who has not yet resolved his legal situation, and some Bitcoin users would prefer that he stays away to avoid placing too much attention on the technical aspects of the cryptocurrency.
Tweets and Delays
As I said above, Megaupload 2.0 missed its own party. In October of last year, Dotcom had acknowledged that it was "unlikely" to see the service online by January 20 because the fundraising process was delayed, and his legal team would need more time. But on the 19th, Dotcom acknowledged the existence of a "barrier", and his willingness to destroy it, using a GIF of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine walking away from an explosion. The rest of his tweets were familiar, there was one "dedicated" to Obama, another to Donald Trump, and finally, another in which he reports that there will be news about Megaupload 2.0 and Bitcache on Tuesday.
A Man in the Middle
The last relevant datum we have left to share is that Megaupload 2.0 will function as a "man in the middle" of file transfers, distributing users' content on external platforms like Maidsafe and Storj. It is supposed that this will make any attempt to hijack data much more complicated, something that the first Megaupload suffered firsthand. So we wait.
