From CoinWeek reported by Charles Morgan and Hubert Walker ….
More problems for Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, as the popular crypto-currency site was pulled offline Monday. Reports have surfaced over the last 24-hours that Mt. Gox has been breached and that up to $350 million in Bitcoins has been stolen by hackers, apparently after a year-long scheme to infiltrate the service.
An internal memo, leaked online paints a devastating picture of what happened to Mt. Gox and what lies ahead for virtual currencies in an age of rampant technological theft.
CoinWeek attempted to check the site early Tuesday morning and after loading a brief “please wait…” message, the site loaded a blank page. Mt. Gox is run out of Tokyo, Japan.
In an attempt to stabilize the currency, several Bitcoin operators issued a joint statement on coinbase.blog, saying, in part:
This tragic violation of the trust of users of Mt.Gox was the result of one company’s actions and does not reflect the resilience or value of bitcoin and the digital currency industry. There are hundreds of trustworthy and responsible companies involved in bitcoin. These companies will continue to build the future of money by making bitcoin more secure and easy to use for consumers and merchants. As with any new industry, there are certain bad actors that need to be weeded out, and that is what we are seeing today. Mt.Gox has confirmed its issues in private discussions with other members of the bitcoin community.
We are confident, however, that strong Bitcoin companies, led by highly competent teams and backed by credible investors, will continue to thrive, and to fulfill the promise that bitcoin offers as the future of payment in the Internet age.
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. As part of the effort to re-assure customers, the following services 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.
At the time of publication, Bitcoin was trading at $477.95, down 12.35%.
The Pony botnet also hit several other cryptocurrencies, such as LiteCoin, PrimeCoin, and FeatherCoin.