The Associated Press report said that Mt Gox expressed its intention to look into a criminal complaint that had led the virtual money exchange's downfall. According to an announcement posted on the company's former website address, Chief Executive Officer Mark Karpeles, there was a high probability that there was theft that happened on the exchange's website when it was hacked by unknown assailants.
"We will make all efforts to ensure that crimes are punished and damages recovered. 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," Karpeles said in the statement, which was read in Japanese.
AP's report, which was published on MSN, detailed that Karpeles confirmed the theft of 750,000 bitcoins owned by users and another 100,000 of its own on Friday. The lost bitcoins were valued at $425 million at current prices. Moreover, Mt Gox confirmed that a discrepancy of around JPY2.8 billion or $28 million was found between the cash held in financial institutions and the amount that has been deposited by its users.
Nonetheless, Karpeles assured investors that it will be making efforts to increase the payments they owe its creditors.
Meanwhile, a dedicated call center for investors had been set by Mt Gox to address concerns about the exchange while it conducts an internal investigation about the financial discrepancy in its books, said AP. Karpeles had promised to cooperate with Japanese and foreign authorities as well. Mt Gox earlier said that it has JPY6.5 billion or $65 million in liabilities, easily surpassing its assets at JPY3.8 billion or $38 million.
AP said the shutdown of Mt gox was considered as the biggest setback ever in the Bitcoin community. Because of Mt Gox's insolvency woes, it challenged the viability of the virtual currency. This was also supported by the fact that the speculative commodity is not regulated by any central authority.
