Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox hopes to resume withdrawals “soon” after developing a fix for a vulnerability that allowed users to alter transaction details and make it seem like a payment was never completed.
Mt. Gox suspended withdrawals on February 7, before explaining the “transaction malleability” to its users only a few days later. The loophole affects the virtual currency for other payment processor too – Bitstamp, the largest Bitcoin exchange – reinstated withdrawals last week after it was forced to implement a similar suspension.
In a statement, Mt. Gox said the workaround will use a “unique identifier” developed by the team at blockchain.info to show whether a transaction has been modified or not. The worry is that this would create a loophole where the payment was sent a second time, incorrectly.
“With this new system in place, Mt. Gox should be able to resume withdrawals soon,” it said. “At the beginning we will do so at a moderated pace and with new daily and monthly limits in place to prevent any problems with the new system and to take into account current market conditions.”
Mt. Gox is now re-indexing the Blockchain – the public database for that records all Bitcoin transactions – and testing a new withdrawal queue system for the digital currency. While a concrete timeframe wasn’t given, the Bitcoin exchange says it’ll issue a further update by this Thursday (February 20).
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Image Credit: George Frey/Getty Images
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