Bitstamp Accounts Frozen
This is strange. There's still nothing about this on their web site.<p>It's very suspicious when a Bitcoin exchange claims problems on the <i>deposit</i> side and stops processing <i>withdrawals</i>. Nobody trusts a Bitcoin exchange in trouble, with good reason given the history. On the other hand, it's 6:30 AM in London, where Bitstamp is, and their staff is probably not in yet. Bitstamp is still processing trades; they haven't shut down their trading engine.<p>Most merchants who accept Bitcoin do so through Coinbase, which sells on Bitstamp.  Coinbase only holds a working float of Bitcoins. When Coinbase can't unload incoming Bitcoins, they start refusing transactions. So most Bitcoin e-commerce will stop within hours if this isn't fixed rapidly.<p>On top of that, Bitcoin, after being stable around $315-$320 or so for weeks, suddenly dropped to a low of $255 in the last 48 hours. Right now, it's around $270. Something is going on.