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US Senators seek to destroy peer-2-peer virtual money, which competes with the US dollar (similar to the Liberty Dollar minus the gold backing and minus the centralization). They claim its use on the Silk Road as an excuse.

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer network based anonymous digital currency. Peer-to-peer (P2P) means that there is no central authority to issue new money or keep track of transactions. Instead, these tasks are managed collectively by the nodes of the network. Anonymity means that the real world identity of the parties of a transaction can be kept hidden from the public or even from the parties themselves.

Users and fans of the open-source, digital currency Bitcoin should feel a little less secure today, after leaders of the Bitcoin project confirmed to a British newspaper they have no way to confirm a user's claim that almost $500,000 worth of the digital currency disappeared from his hard drive overnight.

Bitcoin sounds like something from science fiction: A purely digital currency, created by an anonymous hacker, that operates outside the world's traditional banking systems. The four-year-old currency is very real, though, and it's trading an all-time high, tripling in value in the last two months alone. One bitcoin is was worth about $40 U.S. dollars on Tuesday, and surged on Wednesday to nearly $49. That's up from around $13 in January, and 5 cents in 2010, according to Mt. Gox, the bitcoin market's main exchange.

"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.

(U//FOUO) Bitcoin – A decentralized, peer-to-peer (P2P) network-based virtual currency – provides a venue for individuals to generate, transfer, launder, and steal illicit funds with some anonymity. Bitcoin offers many of the same challenges associated with other virtual currencies, such as WebMoney, and adds unique complexities for investigators because of its decentralized nature.

A few weeks ago the Royal Canadian Mint rolled out MintChip, a digital currency that is “better than cash.” It isn’t an alternative currency in that it’s a digital representation of the sovereign currency — the Canadian dollar.

The last time we wrote about Bitcoin, in October, the currency's future looked grim. A series of security incidents had created an avalanche of bad press, which in turn undermined public confidence in the currency. Its value fell by more than 90 percent against the dollar. We thought Bitcoin's value would continue to collapse, but so far that hasn't happened. Instead, after hitting a low of $2, it rose back above $3 in early December, and on Monday it rose above $4 for the first time in two months.

Bitcoin is a free and easy to use, open source peer-to-peer electronic cash system that is completely decentralized, without the need for a central server or trusted parties.

Users hold the crypto keys to their own money and transact directly with each other, with the help of a P2P network to check for double-spending. Users can transfer money easily through the Internet, without having to trust middlemen. Third parties can’t prevent or control your transactions.