No one seems to know what is happening and the government isn't saying much

May 15, 2013 07:18 GMT  ·  By

The US Department of Homeland Security has ordered Dwolla, a mobile payments company, to stop making payments to Mt. Gox, the largest and best known Bitcoin exchange.

The reason for the order is unknown, and Mt. Gox itself says it has not seen any documents and has not been served with anything. All it knows is from news reports on the issue.

The DHS and the US District Court of Maryland have seized Mutum Sigillum LLC's (Mt. Gox) Dwolla account, Dwolla itself revealed, so it can't process any more payments. The payments company says it is not involved with any of this and has no further information.

"In light of the court order, procured by the Department of Homeland Security, Dwolla has ceased all account activities associated with Dwolla services for Mutum Sigillum while Dwolla’s holding partner transferred Mutum Sigillium’s balance, per the warrant," it explained.

"As of this time MtGox has not been provided with a copy of the court order and/or warrant and does not know its scope and/or the reasons for its issuance. MtGox is investigating and will provide further reports when additional information becomes known," Mt. Gox responded to the reports.

The US government has confirmed that there's an ongoing investigation, but that's it. Whatever the case, it can't be good for Bitcoin. Mt. Gox only accepts a few ways of paying for Bitcoins, and it doesn't work with any major bank.