Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox says ‘no prospects’ for restart of business

Mt. Gox, the online bitcoin exchange that shuttered in February, said Wednesday that a Japanese court had dismissed its request for a civil rehabilitation proceeding, similar to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

As a result, the bitcoin exchange said it sees “no prospects for the restart of the business,” Mt. Gox said in a statement. Instead, the company’s assets have been placed under the control of a Japanese official until a bankruptcy trustee is named.

“The dismissal of the application for commencement of a civil rehabilitation procedure will create great inconvenience and concerns to our creditors for which we apologize,” the company said.

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The bankruptcy was dismissed due to “the fact that the drafting of a rehabilitation plan and its adoption or approval appear difficult,” Mt. Gox said.

Mt. Gox in late February had filed for bankruptcy protection after it said it lost 850,000 bitcoins because of a hacking of its computer system. It later said it recovered about 200,000 of those bitcoins.

Bitcoin is a currency that exists only online. Its value is based on an algorithm. Investors buy bitcoins with dollars, euros and other real currency. A purchase with bitcoins typically involves transferring an amount from the buyer’s bitcoin “digital wallet” to the seller’s wallet on the Internet.

Created in 2009 by a programmer using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin is based on a software standard that runs across a wide number of servers around the world for regulating the creation and trading of bitcoins. It is not controlled by any nation, governing body or business.