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Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange gets approval for US bankruptcy protection

The Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange may still be reeling from the botnet discovery that ruined its business, but it just got a big reprieve. A US court has approved Mt. Gox's Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection, preventing creditors who sued the company from seizing any American assets (including servers) or pressing for evidence. The exchange can also chase down any funds it needs to repay its debts and, if necessary, file lawsuits of its own.

Mt. Gox hasn't issued an official response as we write this, but the US bankruptcy gives the firm some space to fulfill the terms of a settlement that includes distributing recovered Bitcoins. Its Japanese owners will certainly be happy, since they now have more chances to both focus on their own bankruptcy proceedings and devise a comeback strategy. This isn't the end of the saga by a longshot -- just ask those demanding their virtual money back from (recently active on Twitter again) CEO Mark Karpeles. However, the move should prevent an already bad situation from getting worse.