So much for Bitcoin’s (BTC) month of perpetual stability.
After a month of steady prices – bitcoin averaged somewhere between $800 and $900 throughout January – the digital currency dropped 20 percent to as low as $680.50 Thursday evening. The virtual currency has since gone back up to around the $732 mark at the time of this writing.
The decline occurred after major exchange Mt. Gox suspended withdrawals to try to resolve persistent technical issues. In order to solve its withdrawals matter, the company informed customers that the system needed to be in an inactive state, the exchange explained in a statement.
“We apologize for the sudden short notice. All bitcoin withdrawal requests will be on pause, and the withdrawals in the system will be returned to your MtGox wallet and can be reinitiated once the issue is resolved. The trading platform will perform as usual for the needs of our customers,” Mt. Gox said. “Our team will resolve this problem as soon as possible and will provide an update on Monday, February 10, 2014 (JST).”
Mt. Gox is the third-largest bitcoin exchange platform in the world and represents approximately 14 percent of all bitcoin trades. Although it remains popular, there have been major complaints over the past several weeks in regards to the length of time it takes to exchange bitcoin into United States dollars.
This isn’t the first time that Mt. Gox suffered a public relations nightmare. Last year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) seized the private firm’s bank account and cited that it never registered itself as a money services company.
Following Friday’s announcement, bitcoiners took to social media to vent their frustration over the halt in withdrawals.
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