Mt. Gox Scandal Widens As Hong Kong And Cypress Open Bitcoin Shops

Bitcoin is currently trading at $587 via CoinDesk.

Mt. Gox and the growing scandal 

After raising eyebrows by suddenly relocating offices last week, confusion continues as Mt. Gox, resigned their Bitcoin Foundation Board Seat last night. After Charlie Shrem’s resignation last month, this is the second resignation this year, for the foundation.

“We are grateful for their early and valuable contributions as a founding member in launching the Bitcoin Foundation.” Said Jon Matonis in a statement posted at 4:00 am GMT on the foundation’s website. Mt. Gox is one of two Gold Members in the Bitcoin Foundation. The other company is Jeremy Allaire’s Circle.

Andreas Antonopoulos, CSO at Blockchain as well as respected bitcoin evangelist posted the following statement on twitter. “Mark Karpeles did the honorable and right thing for the circumstances. I hope it is followed by good news and a recovery for Gox customers.”

In it’s latest move, Mt. Gox has deleted all of their twitter activity causing even more speculation in the community. 

Brick and Mortar exchanges on the rise

Hong Kong and Cypress are set to open the world’s first physical first bitcoin shops this week. These shop are essentially a money exchange shop, allowing people to buy the virtual currency without going online. 

Hong Kong’s first retail outlet will open in Sai Ying Pun in the Western part of the island. It is scheduled to open on Friday the 28th and is being managed by Hong Kong based bitcoin-trading platform, ANXBTC. 

Neo & Bee opened a physical branch in Engomi, a suburb and municipality of the Cypriot capital Nicosia. It has a population of 18,010 and pictures of the store location have been going viral on reddit.

Continued Merchant Acceptance

Villa Rialto Condominiums announced in a press release today, that effective immediately, they will begin accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for their brand new condos in Mesa, becoming one of first and largest subdivisions in the Phoenix metro area to do so. This announcement comes on the heals of Vancouver’s Quantum Properties and New York’s Bond Realty also announcing they accept bitcoins.

Select market movements of the top 20 altcoins

Bitcoin has managed to recover $78 million in market cap over the weekend. Dogecoin is down 3.4 percent giving up $2.2 million and NXT is down 7.5 percent giving up $4 million in market cap. The top 20 altcoins have increased in value by 1.33 percent since the last index roll up.