In most businesses, a small coding error is a minor problem. With Bitcoin, an online "cryptocurrency", a fairly simple flaw seems to have cost $5.3 billion. That is how much the value of all of the Bitcoin in the world has fallen over the past two weeks, after a bug caused several Bitcoin exchanges to halt withdrawals temporarily. The price of a Bit-coin, which peaked at about $1,200 in December, is now about $630 on Bit-stamp, one of the exchanges that has resumed trading. On Mt Gox, another exchange based in Tokyo, coins that still cannot be withdrawn are selling for far less (see chart).
展开▼
