Mt. Gox, once the world's largest bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy protection on Friday. The Tokyo-based exchange went offline on Tuesday, losing the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The company lost about 750,000 of its customers bitcoins and 100,000 of its own for a total of about $425 million, based on recent prices. Some claimed it would be the end of bitcoin, but Mt. Gox founder Mark Karpeles issued a statement this week in an effort to reassure customers that his company wasn't going down.
"As there is a lot of speculation regarding MtGox and its future, I would like to use this opportunity to reassure everyone that I am still in Japan, and working very hard with the support of different parties to find a solution to our recent issues," Karpeles said to reporters in front of the Tokyo District Court Friday.