Bitcoin Exchange Giant Vanishes; Is the End Near?

Bitcoin trader Kolin Burgress is not happy with Mt. Gox. The London-native hopped a plane and headed all the way to Tokyo, Japan to let the Bitcoin exchange giant know how he felt about losing $320,00...
Bitcoin Exchange Giant Vanishes; Is the End Near?
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  • Bitcoin trader Kolin Burgress is not happy with Mt. Gox. The London-native hopped a plane and headed all the way to Tokyo, Japan to let the Bitcoin exchange giant know how he felt about losing $320,000 worth of the currency.

    “I may have lost all of my money,” said Burgess. He had been picketing the building since February 14th, demanding answers.

    “It hasn’t shaken my trust in Bitcoin, but it has shaken my trust in bitcoin exchanges.”

    There is plenty of reason at present to have one’s trust in Mt. Gox shaken. The company has yet to explain or resolve a massive security glitch that lead the organization to freeze member accounts. Mt. Gox is now blaming the security flaw for the theft of about 740,000 Bitcoins.

    The alleged value of the stolen currency is said to be around $350 million. It’s hard to put an exact value on the missing money as the currency remains unstable, prone to fluctuation as speculators worry. As questions arise over the safety and legitimacy of Bitcoins, the value continues to drop. The value of a Bitcoin fell from $550 to $470 in recent hours.

    Mt. Gox’s website remained down as of Tuesday with no signs of returning any time soon. It went dark on Sunday, following the resignation of CEO Mark Karpeles from the board of the Bitcoin Foundation. With the group is seeking to have Bitcoins recognized as a legitimate form of currency, the scandal is a serious blow to their cause.

    Since Mt. Cox’s major blunder, several exchanges and pro-Bitcoin organizations came together to release a joint statement to the public, saying they have every intent to “re-establish the trust squandered” by Mt. Gox.

    How this will be done is unknown, as s latest incident has served to undermine the claim that the Bitcoin is far more secure than existing established currencies.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

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