From megabytes to megabucks [e-currency]

Christine Evans-Pughe examines the potential of e-currency Bitcoin to emerge as a viable alternative to conventional currency notes. Bitcoin is a way of sharing computation, data, and bandwidth known as peer-to-peer (P2P) computing among a community of Internet users, which is similar to the file-sharing application Bittorrent and the free phone-call software Skype. Participants hold the cryptographic keys to a currency made of secure mathematical tokens and transact directly with each other in the case of Bitcoin. Bitcoin allows its users send a form of digital cash around the world in minutes without incurring the large fees charged by financial organizations. The Bitcoin community also describes it as the first completely decentralized and fully democratic currency. Experts express significant concerns about Bitcoin despite recognizing its potential to emerge as an alternative to conventional currency notes.