Bitcoin Exchange Mt. Gox Halts USD Withdrawals

hypnosec writes "World's largest Bitcoin exchange, Mt. Gox, has halted U.S. dollar withdrawals of customer funds in the U.S., citing a need for system improvements. According to Mt. Gox, the exchange has experienced a huge number of requests for deposits as well as withdrawals from both established markets and new markets, following which its bank hasn't been able to process transactions on time. This led to difficulties for its overseas clients, especially those in the U.S. The exchange said that the deposits in USD, transfers to Mt. Gox, and deposits and withdrawals in other currencies will remain unaffected during this period. Mt. Gox will be resuming the USD withdrawals for its U.S. clients once the improvement of its systems is complete." Wired suggests the slowness may be due in part to reluctance from banks to get entwined with Bitcoin for a number of reasons. "The problem is that U.S. banks are afraid that doing business with Bitcoin companies might draw the attention of U.S. or state regulators ... This reluctance may be fed by the sense that Bitcoin poses a threat to the banking industry. Anyone can transfer Bitcoins anywhere for free and that could put a dent in some banking transaction processing fees."

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Alternative explanation

[Anonymous Coward]

Updating their systems to feed NSA?