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Virtual currency Bitcoin’s largest exchange, Mt.Gox, has suspended transfer withdrawals in US Dollars for the next two weeks citing unmanageable volume.
Mt.Gox controls nearly 70 percent of the Bitcoin exchange market.
There is some concern that the Japanese-based exchange continues to come under fire from the US Government, which last week seized some of its funds sitting the money transfer intermediary Dwolla.
One policy not sitting well with some Bitcoin users is Mt.Gox allowance of “cash in” while no cash can be withdrawn. Yes, the Bitcoin exchange is permitting US Dollar deposits, just not withdrawals.
Mt.Gox has not suspended trading in any other currency besides the US Dollar.
The suspension of withdrawals "is something that will cause bank regulators" to monitor activities "even more closely," said Mercedes Kelley Tunstall, an attorney with the law firm Ballard Spahr LLP who has consulted financial institutions that are interested in potential business opportunities involving virtual currencies in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
The online gambling sector remains hesitant about Bitcoin up to now and the Mt.Gox action probably won’t help matters.
The price of one bitcoin was trading around $107 on Fridayafter hitting an all-time intraday high of $266 in April.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
