The Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday, saying it may have lost $450 million worth of the digital currency, according to The New York Times.
The Tokyo-based exchange was once the largest Bitcoin exchange in the world, but had recently been showing signs of trouble. Withdrawals were halted earlier this month, and then reports surfaced that thieves may have stolen hundreds of thousands of Bitcoins.
On Friday, Mt. Gox said it had most likely lost 750,000 of its customers holdings, and more than 100,00 of its own Bitcoins, accoridng to the Times.
“There were weaknesses in the system,” Mark Karpeles, Mt. Gox’s chief executive, said at a press conference. “I’m truly sorry to have caused inconvenience.”
Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy under Japan’s Civil Rehabilitation Law. The company has liabilities of 6.5 billion yen, or $64 million, assets of 3.84 billion yen, and 127,000 creditors, according to the Times.
