The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is reportedly actively investigating the disappearance of a large volume of bitcoins from the Mt. Gox exchange, which collapse disastrously earlier this year.
“We decided to launch an investigation as we concluded this case could be connected to criminal activity,” a spokesperson for the Tokyo Police said on the matter, according to the Wall Street Journal.
When the exchange collapsed, Mt. Gox noted in bankruptcy protection filings that they estimated to have lost upwards of 800,000 bitcoins, worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
Several weeks later, the company made a strange announcement in which they stated they managed to recover 200,000 bitcoins from a wallet thought to be old and unused.
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Tokyo Police indicated they have the suspicion that about 27,000 bitcoins (worth about $15.5 million USD at the current exchange rate) was stolen illegally via some level of intrusion.
This could very well explain Mt. Gox’s initial explanation behind missing bitcoins, putting blame on a well-known “transaction malleability” flaw (which some experts state is not a flaw at all).
As it were, it would appear that the very investors who lost money (some, life savings) in the exchange collapse will be waiting for quite a while for answers. Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy trustee indicates an investigation will take “a considerable amount of time”.
