16 Jan 2014 / Christian Science Monitor – Bitcoin, the digital currency, has been gaining traction among the tech crowd since 2009 and has blown up over the past year. Now, major retailers and even lemonade stands are starting to embrace Bitcoin.
Until recently, Bitcoin wasn’t a mainstream topic of conversation. But the peer-to-peer payment system has been gaining traction among the tech crowd since its introduction in 2009 and became a hot topic in the last year or so. In fact, Forbes recently singled Bitcoin out as the best investment of 2013.
The virtual currency is already getting the pop culture parody treatment, with Dogecoin — a riff on an Internet meme that has a real total value of $7 million — and Coinye West, which launched last week. (Kanye West, who is not involved in the business, has filed cease-and-desist papers.)
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If the interest of financial experts and Yeezus isn’t enough to make consumers sit up and take notice, what you’ll soon be able to buy with Bitcoins is making headlines. Discount shopping site Overstock has plans to accept Bitcoin by June, making it one of the first major retailers to do so. And Bitcoin recently got a value boost after online gaming company Zynga recently announced it would be testing accepting Bitcoin payments for seven of its games, including FarmVille 2, ChefVille, and CityVille.
Virtual vs. Actual Goods
Using Bitcoins to purchase premium content for Zynga social network games occurs in the digital realm, where the currency has mainly been used for everything from nonprofit donations to online gambling. (The lack of regulations on the cryptocurrency has made it attractive to those dealing in illegal markets, including drugs and weapons; $28.5 million worth of Bitcoins were seized by the FBI last year during the shutdown of the Silk Road online black market.)….. Read more
