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Mt. Gox Says 200000 Bitcoins Found in Forgotten Wallet

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Mt. Gox said on Friday that it found 200,000 "forgotten" bitcoins on March 7, a week after the Tokyo-based digital currency exchange filed for bankruptcy protection, saying it lost nearly all the 850,000 bitcoins it held, worth some $500 million at today's prices, Reuters reported on Friday. Mt. Gox made the announcement on its website. Online sleuths had noticed around 200,000 bitcoins moving through the crypto-currency exchange after the bankruptcy filing. The exchange, headed by 28-year-old Frenchman Mark Karpeles, said the bitcoins were found in an old-format online wallet which it had thought no longer held any bitcoins, but which it checked again after its bankruptcy filing.

Mt. Gox Suit Judge Loosens Bitcoin Freeze to Chase Assets

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A U.S. judge who froze assets belonging to the American affiliate of bankrupt Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox Co. loosened that restraint to see where some of the digital currency flows, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman yesterday revised his temporary order issued March 11 to allow movement — and possibly tracking — of small amounts of Bitcoin. Mt. Gox Co. filed for bankruptcy in Tokyo on Feb. 28 after announcing earlier last month that that it couldn’t account for 750,000 customer Bitcoins and about 100,000 of its own, about 7 percent of Bitcoins worldwide. Mt. Gox said yesterday that it had located about 200,000 Bitcoins stored in an old-format “wallet” that it had previously counted as missing. The company said its revised count of missing Bitcoins, 650,000, may change depending on the results of an investigation.

Arcapita Goes After Two Arab Banks to Recover 45.3 Million

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Arcapita Bank is suing two Arab banks to recover a total of $45.3 million the investment firm transferred to them just before its 2012 bankruptcy filing, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The suits, filed by the Bahrain-based bank against Saudi Arabia's Al Baraka Banking Group BSC and Bahrain-based Alubaf Arab International Bank BSC, are the biggest of 59 lawsuits Arcapita filed on Monday seeking money it shelled out within 90 days before its March 2012 bankruptcy filing. Arcapita is suing two units of Al Baraka for a total of $35.3 million and is going after Alubaf for $10 million in a separate suit. Arcapita, which emerged from bankruptcy last September, filed the suits on Monday in bankruptcy court, two days before the two-year statute of limitations for these types of lawsuits runs out.

Mt. Gox Updates Website Allows Customers to Check Bitcoin Balances

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Mt. Gox, a leading bitcoin exchange that late last month filed for bankruptcy protection, updated its website on Tuesday to allow customers to log in and verify their wallet, or account, balance, Reuters reported yesterday. The website, which went blank just over three weeks ago, had previously posted occasional updates on Mt. Gox's civil rehabilitation process — a legal procedure that may allow Mt. Gox to rebuild and pay back some of its creditors — as well as a warning that some spam or phishing emails purporting to be from the exchange were in circulation. Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan on Feb. 28, saying it may have lost 850,000 bitcoins — worth around $520 million at current prices — to hackers. It has since gone through a similar process in the United States.

Mt. Gox Files for Chapter 15 Protection

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Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox on Sunday filed for chapter 15 bankruptcy in the U.S., more than a week after it filed for bankruptcy in Japan and disclosed that it had lost about 750,000 of its customers’ bitcoins, MarketWatch.com reported yesterday. Mt. Gox filed for chapter 15 in Dallas and is being represented by Baker & McKenzie, which is also the law firm representing Mt. Gox its civil rehabilitation proceeding in Japan. Mt. Gox’s chapter 15 filing showed it is seeking relief from two parties in the U.S. with pending litigation: CoinLab Inc. and Gregory Greene, a plaintiff in the class-action lawsuit who alleges he lost $25,000 worth of bitcoin. The class-action lawsuit was filed against Mt. Gox and Chief Executive Mark Karpeles on Feb. 28 in Illinois on behalf of all people in the U.S. who held bitcoins in the exchange by the law firm Edelson PC. The lawsuit seeks the return of the customers’ funds and damages against Mt. Gox and Karpeles.

Spain Changes Bankruptcy Law to Help Companies Restructure

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Spain overhauled bankruptcy rules to make it easier for troubled companies to avoid liquidation as the economy recovers from a five-year slump, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The decree will make it easier to get agreements on write-offs, maturity extensions and debt-for-equity swaps and reduces the majority needed for creditor agreements to be approved, Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said after the weekly cabinet meeting. Individual creditors will be able to agree to refinancing during preliminary bankruptcy proceedings. Almost two years after Spain bailed out its financial system and set up bad bank Sareb to absorb toxic real-estate assets, officials are tackling rules that mean about 95 percent of companies that start insolvency proceedings end up in liquidation. A record 8,716 Spanish companies sought creditor protection last year, up 20 percent from the year before, according to a PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP report.

Mt. Gox Files for Bankruptcy Blames Hackers for Losses

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Mt. Gox, once the world's biggest bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan on Friday, saying that it may have lost nearly half a billion dollars worth of the virtual coins due to hacking into its faulty computer system, Reuters reported today. The collapse caps a tumultuous few weeks in which the company has remained virtually silent after halting trades of the crypto-currency, shaking the nascent but burgeoning bitcoin community. Mt. Gox said that the exchange, used overwhelmingly by foreigners, had lost 750,000 of its users' bitcoins and 100,000 of its own. Many bitcoin market participants have said Mt. Gox's problems were specific to the company and were caused by what they said was a lax attitude by Mt. Gox's French CEO Mark Karpeles, while bitcoin itself — free of any central bank control — was still a noble venture.

Suntech Power Files for Chapter 15 Protection

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Suntech Power Holdings Co. filed for chapter 15 protection on Friday in an attempt to stop some bondholders from interfering with professionals who are trying to turn Suntech from the world's former largest solar-panel maker into a seller of solar products, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The filing blocks some unpaid bondholders — part of a group owed about $540 million — from forcing the company into liquidation in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

U.S. Judge Approves Polish Steel Makers Chapter 15 Filing

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Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane granted chapter 15 protection to Zlomrex International Finance SA, the London-based finance arm of Polish steel maker Cognor SA, a key element of its debt-exchange effort now underway in the U.K., Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. The Polish steel maker is seeking to restructure 126.1 million euros ($172.5 million) in debt that was due in February.

Chinas Suntech Power Plans U.S. Bankruptcy Filing

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China’s one-time solar-power giant Suntech Power Holdings Co. plans to file for bankruptcy protection in U.S. court as its leaders negotiate with the holders of more than $500 million in U.S. convertible bonds, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. Suntech Power Holdings, which was once the world’s largest solar panel maker, defaulted on its U.S. debt in March, and financial professionals in the Cayman Islands — where the holding company is incorporated — have been trying to negotiate a repayment plan with bondholders. Suntech plans to file for chapter 15 protection. If recognized by a U.S. judge, the solar panel maker will receive the benefits of U.S. bankruptcy law, including the so-called automatic stay that halts lawsuits and prevents creditors from seizing assets. The filing is expected by Feb. 21.