Bitstamp, one of the biggest online Bitcoin exchanges, has suspended withdrawals, the latest setback for the virtual currency following a service disruption at a Tokyo-based exchange last week.

A denial-of-service attack, in which a website is flooded with massive requests for data, obstructed Bitstamp’s ability to check account balances, the exchange said in a statement. Customers won’t be able to withdraw funds until a fix is issued, and transactions that failed today and yesterday will be canceled, the company said.

Bitcoin is a digital currency that can be used to buy everything from Tesla Motors Inc. cars to Gummi bears. Mt.Gox, the other major online exchange, said on Feb. 7 that it stopped withdrawals because of a technical issue. The virtual currency has since declined about 19 percent and was trading at $642.29 at 2:23 p.m. in New York, according to the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, which averages exchange prices.

“This is a nuisance attack,” said Andreas Antonopoulos, chief security officer for Blockchain.info, a provider of online wallets for a digital currencies. “Funds have not been lost, and have not been affected. What it’s done is slow down their accounting system from reconciling transactions.”

Antonoupoulos said withdrawals will probably resume within two days.

“No funds have been lost and no funds are at risk,” Bitstamp said in the statement. A message sent to the office of Bitstamp seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned.

The governments of India, China and Russia have sought to ban or limit the use of Bitcoins, which exist as software and aren’t controlled by any central authority. Some U.S.-based exchanges have either closed at the behest of law enforcement or had difficulties obtaining business bank accounts due to regulatory concerns.

Mt.Gox said yesterday that services were restored and that customers can take out cash “as normal.”

The world’s biggest bitcoin exchange by volume has reopened allowing yuan-to-bitcoin deposits. This goes against an order by the People’s Bank of China, which said all bitcoin trading should stop before the Chinese New Year, January 31.

BTC China executive Bobby Lee said that as of Thursday, the exchange decided it could legally accept bitcoin deposits in its corporate bank account, and then transfer funds to customer accounts.

Shanghai-based BTC China stopped accepting deposits in Chinese yuan in December after the People’s Bank of China warned financial institutions not to sell or trade bitcoin. Government ministries told financial institutions dealing with bitcoin they must stop by January 31, the beginning of Chinese New Year holiday.

"We are definitely in compliance with the Dec. 5 memo, but the government and the government agencies can change the rules anytime in the future," Mr. Lee told the WSJ by phone. "So we are going to take a wait-and-see approach."

Bitcoin prices tumbled more than 50 percent when the exchange shut down just before the calendar new year holiday. According to Lee, the comeback was strategically planned around the beginning of the Chinese holiday, as not too draw too much attention.

"It is going to be slow in terms of trading value, so we just wanted to make sure the system is running smoothly, that there is not too much pressure and that it doesn't pick up too much attention."

According to Chinese officials, bitcoin has “no legal status or monetary equivalent” and financial institutions shouldn’t treat it as legal tender, however it can be traded as a commodity on the internet.

The first thing to know about Bitcoin has nothing to do with how it works or what the current value of one is — of primary importance is the fanatical devotion Bitcoin users have to the mother of all cryptocurrencies. Many fans of Bitcoin promote the anonymous internet money at every turn, encouraging others to use it as a way to combat everything from government overreach to unethical banking practices. This is why cryptocurrencies are still a thing. Bitcoin enthusiasts scored a major victory when Overstock and Zynga started accepting Bitcoins recently, and that prompted one fan to start asking other internet companies what their plans were. Surprisingly, the one organization he got anywhere with was Google.

Updated: Google has since issued a statement that it isn’t looking to incorporate Bitcoin — but as far as we can tell, the email conversation isn’t being contested. Basically, Google probably is investigating Bitcoin, but isn’t quite ready to publicly jump on the train.

It was an email to Google+ head honcho Vic Gundotra that got a response. Gundotra forwarded the message to the Google’s commerce team, and a manager there confirmed that the company is indeed investigating how Bitcoin could be incorporated. Mountain View has been careful to say that there are no immediate plans to accept Bitcoin, but Ariel Bardin, VP of Google Payments did request the original emailer start a Google Moderator discussion to see what users wanted Google to do with Bitcoin. The entire exchange was detailed on the Bitcoin section of Reddit.

Bitcoin has been on a steady rise over the last year, more than doubling in value over a few months. Even recent law enforcement actions against Tor network sites (where Bitcoin is very popular) and China’s crackdown on the currency haven’t dampened enthusiasm much — a single Bitcoin is still worth over $900. A year ago one Bitcoin could be exchanged for a mere $20.

The question remains, what would Google do with Bitcoins? The overwhelming majority of Google’s business comes from Adsense, so clearly taking payments for ads in Bitcoin would have the largest impact and would make Bitcoin fans extremely happy. However, Google has to police its Adsense content very well to keep scams and illegal goods out. Having a paper trail aids in accountability, but Bitcoin is anonymous by design. As such, Google’s involvement with Bitcoin, if any, is likely to be more modest.

Now that the word is out, though, I expect Google to do something if only to get brownie points from privacy advocates. Google sells various consumer digital goods like apps, music, and books through Google Play, and many of the suggestions pouring into the Google Moderator page are asking the company to enable Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Google Wallet, and thus its entire content ecosystem. However, the act of paying 0.000012 BTC for an app lacks elegance, which is important in a consumer-facing venue like Google Play. Don’t expect a Bitcoin logo will be popping up in the Play Store any time soon.

A solution that satisfies all parties might be to allow Bitcoin transfers directly into Google Wallet. It would be a quick way for users to make Bitcoins “real” and only requires that Google change one of its systems to accommodate virtual money. The Google Wallet debit card might finally get some traction as the fastest way to spend Bitcoins in the real world.

Please know that per our recent policy update, Virtual Currency (i.e. Bitcoin and Litecoin), whether digitally or physically delivered, cannot be listed in Auction-style or Buy-It-Now listing formats. eBay is opening a Virtual Currency category to allow the sale of virtual currency in Classified Ads format on February 10, 2014. We request that you do not list these items until that date. Please be informed that repeated breach of the policy may further jeopardize your account status. To avoid any inconvenience in future, we'd appreciated it if you go through our help pages or contact us before listing any such items

LAS VEGAS - Las Vegas is getting one more novelty. Starting this week, patrons will be able to use the online currency Bitcoin to pay for rooms, food and drinks at two downtown casinos.

The D casino and the city's oldest casino, the Golden Gate, will accept bitcoins at hotel front desks beginning Wednesday. The cybercurrency will also be accepted at the D's gift shop and two restaurants. U.S. dollars will remain the only currency accepted on the gambling floor.

Derek Stevens, the co-owner of the two casinos, said he's been intrigued by Bitcoin for years and had talked with patrons who wondered if the casinos would use it.

He said it's tough to forecast how many patrons will pay for dinners and souvenirs with Bitcoin, but predicted other casinos will soon adopt the currency.

"For us, it's going to be somewhat exciting to see what kind of impact it'll have," he said.

State regulators are unlikely to allow casinos to exchange chips for bitcoins any time soon, according to A.G. Burnett, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

The industry has not approached regulators about approving the currency for gambling.

"We would have to have an extremely high level of comfort with virtual currency of this kind in order for that to ever occur," Burnett said.

Bitcoin made its debut four years ago, and has been gaining momentum ever since, shedding its status as an internet oddity and approaching the mainstream.

Earlier this month, the Salt Lake City-based retailer Overstock.com became the first major retailer to accept the digital currency as payment for goods.

Unlike government-issued money, the value of Bitcoin fluctuates rapidly. Like Overstock.com, the two casinos will use a Bitcoin broker that immediately exchanges the digital coins into dollars.

Advocates describe Bitcoin as the foundation of a Utopian economy: no borders, no change fees, no closing hours, and no one to tell you what you can and can't do with your money.

Predicting the opposite. Either up or sideways. They have way higher volume and yet the price is 7% higher than Gox.