MtGox Bitcoin Exchange(Japan) files for bankruptcy protection Friday Feb 28,2014

The troubled MtGox bitcoin exchange filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan Friday Feb 28,2014 after claims of a multi-million dollar theft from its digital vaults

The Tokyo District Court accepted the application from MtGox, Jiji Press and public broadcaster NHK said.

The action was taken after US prosecutors reportedly served a subpoena on the company.

Mt.Gox has been struggling for the past few weeks. In early February 2014, the company paused withdrawals, claiming they had technical issues.

Mt.Gox claims to have $63.9 million in liabilities with $37.7 million of assets at present. The company announced that it lost 850,000 Bitcoins, of which 750,000 belong to its customers. This amounts to about $477 million based on current Bitcoin exchange rates. Mt.Gox says that the Bitcoins were lost “due to weaknesses in the system”.