Mt. Gox Bitcoin Exchange Finds Missing Millions

The Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox said Thursday that it had stumbled upon 200,000 missing Bitcoin, worth about $116 million.

The digital currency was found in an old wallet that Mt. Gox, which has been under fire and recently filed for bankruptcy protection, had thought was empty, the company said in a letter posted on its website. Wallets act as bank accounts for Bitcoin, which has been under increasing scrutiny from authorities around the world as a volatile and unregulated form of currency. The wallet storing the lost Bitcoin used an old format, but was found to have a six-figure balance on March 7.

The uncovered loot replaces a portion of the 850,000 Bitcoin that Mt. Gox said it could not locate when it declared bankruptcy in February. The majority belonged to customers. Mt. Gox, once the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, halted withdrawals due to a cyber attack earlier in mid-February. At the end of the month, the company had filed for bankruptcy in the United States and Japan. In March, hackers accused the company of stealing Bitcoin that had been lost in fraudulent withdrawals.