Bitcoin exchange Mt Gox wins temporary bankruptcy protection in US

Japanese Bitcoin exchange firm, Mt Gox, has reportedly won a temporary bankruptcy protection in the US over loss of about 473 million dollars worth customers' virtual currency.

The ruling by a judge in Texas protects the firm's assets and briefly halts two US lawsuits while bankruptcy proceedings occur in Japan.

According to the BBC, the firm had filed for bankruptcy in Japan in the last month, claiming hack attack that led to theft of about 7,50,000 customer bitcoins and 1,00,000 of the firm's own bitcoins.

However, Mt Gox customers have protested against the exchange, claiming the firm is a fraud.

The latest ruling would save Mt Gox temporarily from one class-action suit in Chicago filed by an Illinois resident, and another a 75 million dollar breach-of-contract case filed in Seattle by Coinlab Inc.

Meanwhile, lawyer leading the Chicago class-action suit, Steven Woodrow, claimed that the case was a 'massive fraud,' however, Mt Gox's attorney, David Parham, dismissed the claims, saying the firm's founder, Mark Karpeles, were complying with the terms of the Japanese bankruptcy proceeding.