Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Goes Offline, Theft Suspected

Mt. Gox was once the worlds largest Bitcoin exchange, much like Citi or HSBC are to us here in the United States has gone offline. The Mt. Gox website was wiped clean and their associated Twitter account has been cleaned as well.

mtgox

The only thing left on the website is a message that states:

Dear MtGox Customers,

In light of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox’s operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly.

Best regards,
MtGox Team

While the website was still active and before it was wiped a Reddit user posted the screenshot you see below showing that trading had been disabled.

mtgox-trading

It is being speculated, but not confirmed that MtGox was hacked and a total of 744,408 Bitcoins were stolen. There has been a leaked “crisis strategy draft” plan that was apparently created by Gox that details the hack. The document could not be authenticated, but it does goes over how Gox plans to shut down the exchange for one month to restructure and rebrand the company. You can see that below.

MtGox Situation: Crisis Strategy Draft

A statement has been released by members of the Bitcoin Foundation, the board on which MtGox’s CEO once sat, now MtGox is “insolvent”. “We are shocked to learn about Mt. Gox’s alleged insolvency,” a statement from the foundation read. “While we are unable to comment on whether or not Mt. Gox’s business operations employed operational best practices and reasonable accounting procedures, we can assure the public that the Bitcoin protocol is functioning properly.”

People who had their Bitcoins in MtGox are waiting to see what happens, but most likely those Bitcoins were stolen. This is really why these new crypto-currencies need to be regulated.

See Also: Insane Crypto-Currency Mining Rigs

We will keep you updated on this story was more information comes in.

Source: Wired | News Archive

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