Japan

Bitcoin plunges 20% on big Japan-based exchange as withdrawals halted

Silver's picture

Submitted by Silver on

By: RT.com, 02/07/2014

image from www.casascius.com

Photo: www.casascius.com

The value of the bitcoin cryptocurrency has dropped below $690 per unit on one of the world’s biggest exchanges Mt. Gox, after the Japanese trader temporarily stopped withdrawals to fix technical problems. "In our efforts to resolve the issue being encountered by various bitcoin withdrawals, it was determined that the increase in the flow of withdrawal requests has hindered our efforts on a technical level. To understand the issue thoroughly, the system needs to be in a static state," according to a statement released Friday, February 7.

 

“In order for our team to resolve the withdrawal issue it is necessary for a temporarily pause on all withdrawal requests to obtain a clear technical view of the current processes,” the MT Gox team said, promising to provide an update for their customers on Monday, February 10. Friday’s plunge is more evidence of bitcoin volatility. Its value went above $1,000 in January and fell to below $690 on Friday's announcement, recovering to $730 in about an hour.

 

Global Weakness Threatens Japan Recovery

Silver's picture

Submitted by Silver on

By: Takashi Nakamichi, 02/04/2014

TOKYO—The sharp drop in Japanese stocks underscores a vulnerability of the "Abenomics" recovery: Weakness in overseas economies may undermine the success of measures to jump-start growth at home. "Economies are all connected, and we're really worried about how far the impact will reach" from the recent emerging-market turbulence, Toyoaki Nakamura, chief financial officer of Hitachi Ltd. 6501.TO -1.43% , said Tuesday, even as the electronics giant raised its earnings forecast for the fiscal year ending next month, predicting a record profit. Much of the boom engineered by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2013 was driven by a big expansion in monetary stimulus from his handpicked Bank of Japan governor, which pushed down the value of the yen against the dollar and other major currencies.

 

For more information visit www.online.wsj.com

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Japan