NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, February 28, 2014

Mt.Gox has filed for bankruptcy protection and has outstanding debt of about $63.6 million, a lawyer for the Bitcoin exchange said today during a press conference at the Tokyo District Court, reports the WSJ.

The company also disclosed that it had lost 850,000 units of Bitcoin, including 750,000 belonging to customers. That amount is worth about $477 million, based on current exchange rates.

Founder Mark Karpeles later appeared and apologized with a bow, saying in Japanese that the Bitcoin was lost “due to weaknesses in the system.”