Mt. Gox, once the largest Bitcoin exchange, may soon be history. But Bitcoin isn't going anywhere.
At least, that's the consensus among Bitcoin companies and backers. Their assertion counters Mt. Gox's admittedly hyperbolic claim that its implosion could ruin the currency or at least set the currency back a decade with consumers.
See also: Everything You Need to Know About Bitcoin in 2 Minutes
Bitcoin proponents have a vested interest in ensuring the survival of their pet currency so their assertions aren't surprising. They do offer some rock-solid reasons why Bitcoin is likely to endure this setback and possibly emerge stronger.
Though closely linked, Bitcoin no longer needs Mt. Gox. If the exchange's flameout had occurred a year or so ago, it would have been a different story. Back then, the exchange controlled about 80% of Bitcoin transactions. But this month, it was down to around 20%, says Greg Schvey, founder of researcher The Genesis Block.
Not everyone agrees with that figure. A site called Bitcoin Charts estimates Mt. Gox's share at 32%, with No. 2 exchange site Bitstamp at 27%, by volumes of transactions. However, Mt. Gox's dominance has been greatly diminished.

Rival Bitcoin exchanges are spinning the Mt. Gox meltdown as a necessary purge to mature the currency, and are heaping scorn on Mt. Gox to portray it as an unrepresentative bad apple.
"Mt. Gox has always been a problematic exchange," says Jaron Lukasiewicz, CEO of Coinsetter. "This is a company that people always knew [was made up of bad people], but they probably thought that a lot of their odd behavior was the result of their management being socially awkward. It turns out they they were criminals and misleading people for a long time." (Representatives from Mt. Gox could not be reached for comment.)
Like others Bitcoin proponents, Lukasiewicz says that the the incident will prompt more transparency among Bitcoin exchanges. Mt. Gox's opacity was a primary reason that the company came off so suspect to investors.
"Their response — wiping the website from the Internet — was incredibly shady," says Evan Rose, the owner of Bitcoin ATM. "They were allowed to get away with that because they were the only game in town."
Just as the Internet was digesting the Mt. Gox news, SecondMarket announced that it had earmarked $20 million for its own yet-unnamed Bitcoin exchange.
Phil Sanderson, managing director of IDG Ventures, says he thinks venture capitalists have sunk more than $100 million into Bitcoin firms. "There's a lot of smart money going in," he says. "A lot of smart people are working on it."
Marc Andreesen of Andreesen Horowitz is also sanguine about the Mt. Gox episode. “Bitcoin protocol is unchanged and other Bitcoin exchanges and companies are doing fine," he told the New York Times.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading for $573 on Bitstamp. That price is roughly half the apex of around $1,000 reached in early January, but as the chart below shows, there has been a steady falloff since then. Note there hasn't been a sharp decline since the Mt. Gox implosion, though volume was definitely up.

Image: Bitcoin Charts Bitcoin Charts
At some points, says Sanderson of IDG Ventures, it's inevitable that cryptocurrencies will supplant credit cards. They are cheaper to use and provide seamless, untraceable payments. Companies like Overstock and Zynga using Bitcoin illustrate that brands are aware of a market need for using such currencies and are eager to exploit it.
A total of 63 cryptocurrencies exist, according to Sanderson's count. Bitcoin, by far the best known, has the brand-name recognition with consumers and businesses to become the standard-bearer. Like others, he sees Mt. Gox's troubles as a bump in the road towards consumer acceptance. "People have to be comfortable using it," he says. "It will delay [adoption] somewhat, but we'll get through this because this is the future."
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