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A second major bitcoin exchange has temporarily ceased withdrawals following an apparent cyberattack that has seen the anonymous digital currency’s price drop in recent days.
Bitstamp followed the move of Mt.Gox by halting withdrawals after hackers had exploited a bug in some underlying software to carry out the attack.
The average price of bitcoin on all exchanges was now 646.28 USD as of late Thursday morning, down from over 800.00 USD just a week ago.
In other bitcoin news, Canada has announced it is about to tighten its grip on the currency.
The country’s finance minister, Jim Flaherty, said in his federal budget address today:
“It is important to continually improve Canada’s regime to address emerging risks, including virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin, that threaten Canada’s international leadership in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing,” said Flaherty in the budget document.
Flaherty also addressed concerns over online gambling, stating that the government will introduce commitments that will “make online casinos subject to the Proceeds of Crime and Terrorist Financing Act (PCTFA).”
There is some degree of irony in that the online gambling sector has, up until now, shown a reluctancy to deal in bitcoin transactions.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
