Mt. Gox Bitcoin Bank Run Intensifies, 1 Million Customers at Risk

Exchange is refusing to give customers their money, CEO is at large, and company faces "significant losses"

Early Friday morning Tokyo, Japan-based Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox froze customers accounts, refusing to give customers their money back.  Customers were still allowed to trade the Bitcoins in their accounts for other currencies, Mt. Gox's primary function. But this problem has been snowballing for nearly a year now.  And it’s amazing that no one has recognized this for what it is -- a digital age bank run. ...

The exchange, once the biggest converter of Bitcoins to USD and vice versa, blamed it all on a glitch in a press release.  It's previously tried to claim that its backing bank in Japan was limiting it to 10 wire exchanges a day, hence why it was taking weeks or even months to give customers their money.  But it hasn't mentioned that claim in while.  It appears Mt. Gox is trying to use whatever excuses it can think up to disguise the serious problem -- it may not be able to pay back customers unless its current owner and CEO taps into his own fortune.Read More...