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Are physical Bitcoins legal?

Bitcoins aren't just an abstract financial instrument living somewhere in the digital ether anymore. They're now a physical currency capable of taking a ride in your pocket or scratching off your lottery tickets.

The physical Bitcoins, called Casascius Bitcoins and created by a guy in Utah named Mike Caldwell, are made of brass, with gold electroplating on the 25 Bitcoin denomination. And, of course, they're tied to the peer-to-peer, open-source digital currency that's been exchanged on the Internet for a while now.

Porsche Sells For 300 Bitcoins In Latest Sign The Virtual Currency Is Going Kablooey

Somebody in Texas claims they just sold a Porsche for 300 bitcoins, the latest sign of a bitcoin bubble. Or the rise of our new bitcoin overlords.

An Austin family bragged Tuesday night that it had sold a 2007 Porsche Cayman S for 300 bitcoins, a virtual currency that has long been little more than a curiosity for financial reporters but is suddenly breaking into the broader consciousness, maybe just in time for the whole thing to go kablooey.

In Argentina Inflation is rampant, corruption is incorrigible, and freedom is waning. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez is instituting Price controls, imposed a price freeze at grocery stores, restricted people from changing pesos into other currencies, including gold. Argentines have reached their breaking point! For obvious reasons, Bitcoins are becoming increasingly popular in Argentina as people seek any means necessary to survive the economic destruction. For example a local tour operator and rental car agency there has started accepting bitcoins.

What is the bitcoin backed by? As in gold itself is backed by itself and works GREAT but once again doesn't happen instantly like digital transactions and those wanting them need/want.I guess since most who would be interested in bitcoins are also aware of the current economy, where our government ( and others ) are trying to take us AND if they succeed I don't see the point in a digital currency but rather something that can be locally traded like shire silver or other "physical" goods.

Under sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies, dollars are hard to come by in Iran. The rial fell from 20,160 against the greenback on the street market in August to 36,500 rials to the dollar in October. It’s settled, for now, around 27,000. The central bank’s fixed official rate is 12,260. Yet there’s one currency in Iran that has kept its value and can be used to purchase goods from abroad: bitcoins, the online-only currency.

"How's this for a disruptive technology? Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer network based digital currency with no central bank, and no transaction fees. Using a proof-of-work concept, nodes burn CPU cycles searching for bundles of coins, broadcasting their findings to the network. Analysis of energy usage indicates that the market value of Bitcoins is already above the value of the energy needed to generate them, indicating healthy demand. The community is hopeful the currency will remain outside the reach of any government."

A growing list of merchants accept bitcoins.

Revenue Canada says BitCoins aren't tax exempt

Just in time for tax season, the Canada Revenue Agency says the users of Bitcoins will have to pay tax on transactions in the upstart digital currency.

Eric Schmidt compliments bitcoin, saying it is "a great idea". He also reveals that Google was working on a currency of their own which they were going to call Google Bucks. Eric says Google stopped work on their own currency because of legal issues.

Entrepreneur Taylor More listed his two-bedroom Alberta bungalow, asking 405,000 Canadian dollars (£261,000; $395,000) - or the equivalent in Bitcoins. Bitcoins are now a widely used alternative payments system and one Bitcoin is currently worth about £37.