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Following the news that one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges filed for bankruptcy, MtGox released a statement on its website giving more details about... More Revelations Over The Bitcoin Bankruptcy

Following the news that one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges filed for bankruptcy, MtGox released a statement on its website giving more details about what happened.

The company had closed down after losing approximately 750,000 bitcoins much to the fury of customers. In the statement the firm  claim that it was a “high probability” that the currency had been stolen via a bug in the company’s system.

As well as bitcoins belonging to customers, MtGox also said that around 100,000 of its own were stolen too, meaning the total amount taken is worth almost $500 million. Investigations are now under way in order to catch whoever is behind the theft.

MtGox

“We will make all efforts to ensure that crimes are punished and damages are recovered,” it said.

The company is now exploring the possibility of continuing as a business so as to pay back creditors. In the meantime a call centre has been set up so that customers can have their questions answered.

MtGox is not the only bitcoin exchange to go under. Flexcoin too has announced that it is going out of business as a result of a hack, where 896 coins were stolen.

“As Flexcoin does not have the resources, assets, or otherwise to come back from this loss, we are closing our doors immediately,” it said.

Now a watchdog will be set up to ascertain what risk is involved to consumers in relation to the use of virtual currencies like Bitcoin.

[Image via Bloomberg]

SOURCE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26420932