Japan’s chief cabinet secretary has said that the government was “watching closely” over events at Mt Gox, the troubled Bitcoin exchange, as regulators in Japan and the US move to tighten supervision of firms set up to handle the nascent virtual currency.
After suspending trading on Tuesday, the Mt Gox website was back in operation on Wednesday with a one-line message to customers, explaining that the decision to shut down had been taken “to protect the site and our users”.
Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday said that the Financial Services Authority, Japan’s main financial watchdog, would work in tandem with the National Police Agency to collect information on the shutdown of the Tokyo-based platform, and would “take action” if necessary.