Bitcoin Disappear
The Mainichi Newspaper reported on July 31 that the Japanese police confirmed the wrongful withdrawal of 27,000 bitcoins, which is equivalent to 1.6 billion yen or US$15.7 million, out of the virtual vault of the Magic the Gathering Online Exchange (MTGOX) web site, formerly the largest bitcoin trading house in the world.
The Metropolitan Police Department investigated system access records and the like and found out that two techniques were used for illegal withdrawals. The first is repeated withdrawals based disguising normal transactions as failed transactions, and the other is a withdrawal after raising the balance.
According to the police, such incidents routinely and regularly occurred between 2011 and 2013. A former employee of MTGOX recently said that at least five cyber attacks took place during the period, too. The department has asked the bankruptcy administrator of MTGOX to submit the data necessary for an investigation, and is going to proceed with the investigation in conjunction with U.S. law enforcement.
MTGOX announced back in February that approximately 850,000 bitcoins disappeared, and it was short about 2.8 billion yen that were deposited in confidence by its customers. A month later, the web site said that it recovered 200,000 bitcoins.
MTGOX, which used to handle 80 percent of global bitcoin transactions, was declared bankrupt by the Tokyo District Court in April this year. The first creditors’ meeting was held on July 23.
The web site’s name comes from its former ticket to fame – being an online exchange forum for people who traded cards from the tabletop game Magic: The Gathering.