Mt. Gox Shut Down, Confidence in Cryptocurrencies Shaken

Front page of Mt. Gox today:

In light of recent news reports and the potential repercussions on MtGox’s operations and the market, a decision was taken to close all transactions for the time being in order to protect the site and our users. We will be closely monitoring the situation and will react accordingly.

A horrible situation for people who trusted Mt. Gox with their coins. Though Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles is saying ‘they haven’t given up’, it’s looking increasingly likely that those coins are just gone. As the NYTimes reports, this is certainly a huge blow to the credibility and confidence of the currency worldwide.

In the early days, Mt. Gox used to be synonymous with Bitcoin trade. Now it’s dead, and even the hardcore Bitcoin evangelists know this has been a week they’d rather forget.