US to Cooperate with Japan in Mt Gox Investigation
Pretty much everyone observing the Bitcoin space, whether a participant or a critic, is wondering what happened in the alleged Mt Gox hack. After months of silence from the US and Japanese authorities over that most thorny part of the Mt Gox saga, official cooperation has finally been sought from the Japanese authorities based on a bilateral treaty on mutual legal assistance in crime matters. The alleged hack of several hundred thousand bitcoins had previously been ignored in bankruptcy proceedings, much to the ire of Gox creditors. The Path To Justice. The request seems to have been made....
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The Mt. Gox maelstrom is starting to attract attention from law enforcement in Japan and the US. According to the Wall Street Journal, Mt. Gox has been subpoenaed by the US Attorney's office in New York. Additionally, a few thousand miles west, Japanese officials have confirmed that local authorities are looking into the matter, too. The Wall Street Journal cites an unnamed source, which revealed the federal subpoena was sent this month. Details are rather thin on the ground and at this point in time it remains unclear when the subpoena was sent, or what it is all about. In any case,....
This story has been updated with comment from the Federal Services Agency. Japanese government officials are weighing whether to regulate bitcoin exchanges in the wake of new developments in the ongoing investigation of Mt Gox. Media reports from The Japan Times and The Japan News suggest that the government, including those from the country's Financial Services Agency, may seek to implement a registration system for exchange operators. Such a framework may include a licensing scheme and user identification requirements. The Times quoted Finance Minister Taro Aso who said that government....
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has launched an official investigation into possible illicit activity surrounding the closure of Japan-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox. The news comes roughly five months after the bitcoin exchange reported it lost roughly744,400 BTC - then about $350m in customer funds, and about one month since Mt. Gox was approved for its Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the US. A spokesperson for the police department told The Wall Street Journal: "We decided to launch an investigation as we concluded this case could be connected to criminal activity." Tokyo police told....
The joint Japanese and American government investigation into the whereabouts of supposedly stolen Mt. Gox bitcoins has announced a key discovery. The Japan News, Japan's largest English language newspaper, is reporting that fraud is the cause of the "disappearance of 99% of Mt. Gox bitcoins." According to sources in the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), only about 7,000 Gox bitcoins were lost due to cyber-attacks. The remaining 99% of the missing 650,000 bitcoins is "highly suspected" of disappearing during a period when Mt. Gox was being fraudulently run by an unknown party. Also....
Vice finance minister Jiro Aichi of Japan has spoken up in light of the Mt. Gox drama, and he's said that bitcoin regulation should be an international effort, in order to avoid loopholes. Aichi said the ministry may respond "if necessary", but an investigation is underway regarding Gox's practices that reported saw the theft/loss of over 700,000 bitcoin, worth over $250 million USD. "It's not just the Ministry of Finance; many other agencies are related," he said at a news conference, according to Reuters. "As for its legal position, a currency [in Japan] would be coins or notes issued by....