TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo bitcoin exchange that filed for
bankruptcy protection blamed theft through hacking for its losses
Monday, and said it was looking into a criminal complaint.
In an
announcement posted on the Mt. Gox exchange’s website, CEO Mark Karpeles
outlined the events that resulted in the company’s insolvency and said
there was a "high probability" theft was behind the disappearance of
bitcoins.
"We will make all efforts to ensure that crimes are punished and damages recovered," Karpeles
said.
He said Mt. Gox will try to resume business as a way of increasing repayments to its creditors.
The
online exchange was unplugged early last week as rumors of its
insolvency swirled, adding to doubts about the viability of bitcoins
overall. Its woes are a setback for bitcoin, a virtual currency that has
grown in popularity since its 2009 creation as a way to make
transactions across borders without third parties such as banks.
Bitcoin
has also become a highly speculative form of investing. But it has
comes with risks, as the Mt. Gox debacle has illustrated, partly because
bitcoins are not regulated by central banks or other financial
authorities.
The statement said illegal access to Mt. Gox in early February abused a bug in its computer system.
It
also said "large discrepancies" were found between the amount of cash
held in financial institutions and the amount deposited by users,
meaning that about 2.8 billion yen ($28 million) was unaccounted for.
Karpeles
said Friday that 750,000 bitcoins deposited by users and another
100,000 belonging to the company disappeared. That would amount to about
$425 million at recent prices.
He repeated the bitcoin numbers in Monday’s statement but said also the complete extent is not yet known.

A huge number of transactions must be investigated for a variety of problems to establish the truth,
Karpeles said.
Mt.
Gox set up a call center at a Tokyo telephone number, open during
business hours Monday through Friday, to answer any queries.
Karpeles
promised to cooperate with the authorities in Japan and overseas in
ongoing investigations, and said an expert had been asked to investigate
a possible criminal complaint.
"All efforts will now be made to
restore the business and recover damages to repay debts to creditors. We
hope for the understanding and cooperation of all," he said.
Bitcoin proponents have insisted that Mt. Gox is an isolated case, caused by the company’s technological
failures.
Mt. Gox said its liabilities totaled 6.5 billion yen ($65 million), while its assets totaled 3.8 billion
yen ($38 million).
A
class-action lawsuit was filed in a U.S. federal court in Chicago last
week, which claims users had not been properly protected from the
exchange’s security breach and instead were told false information,
causing the loss of millions of dollars of their bitcoins.
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