Bitcoin Withdrawals Suspended by Mt. Gox

Updated on

Mt. Gox said it will provide another update on the bitcoin withdrawal situation on Monday. The company said it temporarily suspended withdrawals of the digital currency because of technical problems. The exchange reported that an “increase in the flow of withdrawal requests” has caused technical problems for them, so they needed to put the system “in a static state” in order to address the issues. It also said that its team would be working all weekend to figure out the technical problems and remedy them.

Bitcoin value dives

Because of the technical problems at Mt. Gox, the value of bitcoin on the exchange has plummeted, falling some $200 in just two days. Expert Phil Pearlman says at this rate of decline, the value of bitcoin will fall to be on par with dogecoin, another crypto-currency, within a week.

Bitcoin chart

Why bitcoin withdrawals might have increased

TechCrunch speculates that the sudden increase in bitcoin withdrawals may be related to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s decision to pull the popular bitcoin wallet app Blockchain.info from the App Store. Apple users have been posting videos of themselves smashing their iPhones in protest of the removal.

The company has said that it requires apps in the store to be legal in all the areas where they are offered, and bitcoin remains a controversial topic among global governments and regulators. The removal of Blockchain now means there isn’t a single bitcoin wallet app available for download in Apple’s App Store.

Will bitcoin recover its value?

Bitcoin enthusiasts typically believe that the decline in bitcoin value is temporary, however. The price of the crypto-currency has bounced around for some time, being violently affected by nearly any news about it. As regulators around the world decide what to do with bitcoin and how to tax transactions which use it, general investor enthusiasm has waxed and waned. Many see the currency as a way to limit regulatory control over money, although regulators tend to approach it as more of a payment system rather than a currency.

Leave a Comment