Mt. Gox apologizes for hack and promises to resume Bitcoin withdrawals

Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox says its customers should soon be able to withdraw Bitcoins from their accounts again, although the company is still not sure just how long the process of restoring access will take. Mt. Gox suspended withdrawals last Monday after claiming it was hampered by a security flaw related to “transaction malleability,” a known property of the Bitcoin protocol that critics say Mt. Gox should have addressed years ago.

Mt. Gox, the world’s first Bitcoin trading exchange, issued an apology today for the recent freeze in external transfers of the virtual currency due to a recent, crippling hack. The Tokyo-based company also announced in its official statement that Bitcoin withdrawals should be able to resume again soon, though at a slower pace “and with new daily/monthly limits in place” to protect against future threats. The statement, released on the Mt. Gox website, noted that the company has rolled out a solution for the recent Bitcoin software transaction malleability woes that will allow withdrawals to resume. Exactly how soon, though, is anyone’s guess at the moment.