Glitch in technology frightens off investors.  Our correspondent Andreas Frank states:  Bitcoin prices plunged again Monday morning after Mt.Gox, the major exchange for the virtual currency, said technical problems require it to continue its ban on customer withdrawals.

Mt.Gox said it has discovered a bug that causes problems when customers try to use their account to make a transfer or payment of bitcoins to a third party. It said the problem is not with Mt.Gox software but affects all transfers of bitcoins to third parties.

The exchange said it was suspending withdrawals and third-party payments until the problem is fixed, although trading in bitcoins continues.

A bug is allowing a third party receiving a bitcoin transfer to make it look as if the transfer did not go through, which can lead to improper multiple transfers, Mt.Gox said. Mt.Gox tried to put the best face on the technical problems in its latest statement, noting that the technology is “very much in its early stages.”  MtGox on Bitcoins