The fall of MtGox: MtGox down for hours may herald the end of an era

Reports are flooding in that MtGox has been down for several hours. This comes on the heels of an announcement by the Bitcoin exchange that bitcoin transfers out of the exchange had been frozen. As this news hit the market, BTC market price began to plummet, falling from $810 and down to $684. People unable to move BTC off MtGox and unable to easily turn it into local currency means that the service itself is non-functional. Now it looks as it MtGox has gone dark. On a normal day MtGox represents 30% to 40% of exchange volume across the market, with BTC-e and Bitstamp taking up much of the slack Bter is also and up and coming comfortable player in the market. Changes are good if MtGox becomes non-operational the market will shift to them.