Mt Gox has previously stated that it had opened over one million accounts.
UPDATE
AP reports:
The exchange's CEO Mark Karpeles appeared before Japanese TV news cameras, bowing deeply. He said a weakness in the exchange's systems was behind a massive loss of the virtual currency involving 750,000 bitcoins from users and 100,000 of the company's own bitcoins. That would amount to about $425 million at recent prices.
UPDATE 2
Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles bows in apology at a press conference at the Justice Ministry in Tokyo Friday night, Feb. 28, 2014.
UPDATE 3
"There was some weakness in the system, and the bitcoins have disappeared. I apologize for causing trouble" - Mt.Gox CEO Mark Karpeles.
UPDATE 4
Reports from some of the losers are starting to come out(Via Business Spectator)
"It is disappointing they hid so much for so long," said Jonathan Waller, a 30-year-old game developer who said he had had 211 bitcoin in Mt. Gox. "I hope they manage to become a fully-functioning exchange again, but their reputation is so damaged it may not be possible," he said.
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William Banks, a website developer in Australia, said he lost about 100 bitcoins in Mt. Gox. He had been using the platform since the end of 2012, when he bought some bitcoins at $40 each. Recently, he bought more at about $800 a pop as he became more confident in the virtual currency. He said he has contacted a Japan-based lawyer to look into legal action.
About Mt. Gox's loss of bitcoins, he said, "That seems impossible to me. It's just such an astronomical amount of coins to lose."
Is it just me or does this bankruptcy and hacking talk sound like the old "dog ate my homework" routine?
ReplyDeleteHaven't we been here before, with Madoff, with "dark pools," and other back holes into which money disappears?
What if Mt Gox just stole the money itself and is now faking so it can file bankruptcy?
What if Mt Gox is a front for the same crowd behind all the other looting - legal and illegal?
What if Bharara is again acting as a fixer? He "fixed" the Madoff case and the insider-trading cases....he "fixed" them good.
What if this is just another inside job that takes an "insider" to cover up?
There are many crypto-currencies out there.
Who made btc the king? The media networks, right?
The same guys who pump out lies for empire all day long.
If only people would stop fighting theory and start digging up facts.
They'd known in ten seconds that this is all sham.