Bitcoin exchange files for liquidation

New York - Defunct bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox has given up plans to rebuild under bankruptcy protection and has asked a Tokyo court to allow it to be liquidated, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

These people cited the complexity of the procedure and the lack of realistic rehabilitation plans for the Tokyo-based exchange as reasons for the move, the newspaper said.

Mt. Gox, once the world's biggest bitcoin exchange, filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan last month, saying it may have lost some 850 000 bitcoins - worth around $454m at today's rates - due to hacking into its computer system.

It has since said it found 200 000 of those bitcoins.

Mt. Gox's lawyers declined to comment on the matter.

Mt. Gox CEO Mark Karpeles won't travel to the United States to answer questions about the bitcoin exchange's US bankruptcy case, Mt. Gox lawyers told a federal judge this week.