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Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange files for bankruptcy

March 3, 2014

Following its loss of customer-owned bitcoins totaling more than $500 million in value, Tokyo-based digital currency exchange Mt. Gox has filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan. The exchange placed its number of creditors at 127,000.

On Feb. 7, Mt. Gox divulged a problem with double-entry payments to hackers who had discovered a glitch in the Bitcoin protocol. Amid reports of massive losses resulting from the scam, and a precipitous drop in the value of bitcoins globally, the exchange went offline on Feb. 25. 

According to a report by banking publication BBR, one Mt. Gox customer has already sued the company, saying that "Mt. Gox intentionally and knowingly failed to provide its users with the level of security protection for which they paid."