Mt. Gox bank account seized by US Department of Homeland Security

For the most part, the recent success of the Bitcoin can be attributed to Mt. Gox, the largest and most popular Bitcoin exchange on the internet. Earlier this week the Department of Homeland Security seized the Mutum Sigilum account Mt. Gox held at Wells Fargo bank.

The Mutum Sigilum account was the lifeblood of Dwolla, the PayPal like Bitcoin to US currency processor. The account was seized based on several discrepancies in the paperwork Mt. Gox owner Mark Karpeles filled when opening the account with Wells Fargo. When the application asked if Mutum Sigilum LLC was a business engaged in monetary services, Karpeles stated "No." Below is an excerpt from the actual warrant used to seize the account.

The application asks several questions; to include, "Do you deal in or exchange currency for your customer?" and "Does your business accept funds from customers and send the funds based on customers' instructions (Money Transmitter)?" Karpeles answered these questions "no," indicating that Mutum Sigilum LLC does not deal in or exchange money, and that it does not send funds based on customer instructions. Money transmitting businesses are required by 31 USC section 5330 to register as such with FinCEN. According to FinCEN records on May 6, 2013, neither Mt. Gox nor the subsidiary, Mutum Sigilum LLC, is registered as a Money Service Business.