Account holders at MtGox, the massive Bitcoin exchange that abruptly shut down this may not be left completely empty-handed. If the Tokyo company files for bankruptcy, its customers could retrieve some of the funds it is holding hostage.

Mt. Gox, the Bitcoin exchange that halted withdrawals this month, went offline as industry peers distanced themselves from the Tokyo-based company in an effort to defend the virtual currency.

The chief executive officer of Mt.Gox, the Tokyo-based Bitcoin exchange where prices are tumbling after it halted withdrawals, stepped down from the board of a key advocacy group for the virtual currency.

New features from the merchant services provider BitPay aim to simplify the process of making Bitcoin payments to merchants.

Bitcoin holders are offering the virtual money for $110 on the online exchange Mt.Gox, down from $829 two weeks ago, following its decision to halt withdrawals earlier this month.

Silicon Valley Bank and MasterCard Inc. launched the Commerce.Innovated. accelerator to find and nurture innovators in payments technology.

Allowing merchants to set up recurring debits or pull money from a Bitcoin account seems in conflict with the Bitcoin protocol itself, which was built for push transactions, allowing consumers to have a better handle on what payments they make. But pull transactions are just what a partnership between Coinbase and Balanced will enable.

Amazon.com Inc. is expanding the use of its digital currency, Amazon Coins, to all apps and games in the mobile Amazon Appstore.

The Bitcoin community is in limbo after two big exchanges halted withdrawals due to a technical feature within the Bitcoin protocol that allowed fraudsters to manipulate transaction IDs.

Daniel Lee has been accepting Bitcoin at his family's seven retail stores in Fort Greene, Brooklyn since March 2013 by having customers send the digital currency to wallet addresses he manages.

Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox said customers can take out cash "as normal" and it's working to resolve technical issues that prompted it to halt withdrawals of the digital currency.

The Russian government has outlawed the use of Bitcoin.

Every couple weeks a new group of mainstream merchants and payments providers begins accepting Bitcoin, the popular and often controversial digital currency.

Mt. Gox, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges, has suspended Bitcoin withdrawals because of a technical issue, the company said in a Feb. 7 announcement.

Bitcoin's earliest adopters used to launch scathing criticism at the U.S. for being the first to regulate digital currency in 2012, but their ire seems to have cooled off.

Apple Inc. removed Blockchain, an application for iPhones used to send and receive bitcoins, from its App Store, the developer of the program said.

The central bank of Estonia, where Swedish banks dominate the lending market, urged consumers to steer clear of Bitcoin and similar virtual currencies, warning such software could prove to be little more than a "Ponzi scheme."

Amazon.com is developing a person-to-person payments system that would compete against the likes of PayPal, according to a job listing on the e-commerce company's website.

It's still unclear what New York's planned "BitLicense" actually is, but the New York Department of Financial Services says its license is meant to encourage Bitcoin businesses to operate and innovate in the state.

Charlie Shrem, the digital currency entrepreneur indicted on money laundering charges, has resigned as vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation.