The Mt. Gox Bitcoin Exchange Has Disappeared -- Is Bankruptcy Next?

The one-time giant of bitcoin exchanges Mt. Gox has gone offline, adding fuel to claims of other bitcoin companies that the exchange is about to declare bankruptcy. The exchange’s website was showing a blank white page as of about 10:30 pm ET on Monday evening amid reports on Reddit and Twitter that Mt. Gox had halted all trading.

Earlier on Monday evening a group of bitcoin companies, which included Coinbase, Circle and BTC China, said they were issuing “a joint statement to the Bitcoin community regarding the insolvency of Mt.Gox.” The statement later removed any mention of insolvency, but a spokesman for the group told Re/code that “Mt. Gox has confirmed it will file bankruptcy in private discussions with other members of the bitcoin community.”

Re/code has so far been unable to independently verify that claim. Mt. Gox did not immediately respond to an email request for comment on Monday evening.

“In order to re-establish the trust squandered by the failings of Mt. Gox, responsible bitcoin exchanges are working together and are committed to the future of bitcoin and the security of all customer funds,” said the statement, published at 10 pm ET on Monday. “As part of the effort to re-assure customers, the following exchanges will be coordinating efforts over the coming days to publicly reassure customers and the general public that all funds continue to be held in a safe and secure manner: Coinbase, Kraken, BitStamp, Circle, and BTC China.”

If this is the end for Mt. Gox, it’s not clear whether its customers will lose the fiat currency or bitcoin held by the exchange. The price of bitcoin tumbled down to $500 on the news, according to industry trade publication Coindesk’s Bitcoin Price Index.

Mt. Gox, which is based in Japan and was once the largest bitcoin exchange, has been plagued by technical problems in recent months. In recent weeks, the company suspended withdrawals from the exchange, sending the price of bitcoin crashing down to $135 on the exchange. The price of bitcoin on Mt. Gox has not been factored into Coindesk’s index for some time.

On Sunday, Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles resigned from the board of the industry’s trade group, the Bitcoin Foundation.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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