A Swipe at Traditional Banking at a Forum Illuminating Bitcoin

The founder of a prominent Bitcoin exchange company has been arrested and charged with running an illegal scheme to sell the digital currency to customers trafficking narcotics on the now-defunct drug website Silk Road, prosecutors said Monday.

It is true that a small percentage of Bitcoin transactions are illegal, but the majority of illegal goods are bought with US dollars, the primary currency used in the international trade in illicit goods, economist Mark Thornton told RT. On January 27

Russia's top financial regulator is warning citizens against using virtual currencies, as they could be tied to gangs into money laundering and terrorist financing. The Central Bank warning follows bans by China and Europe on “dubious” cryptocurrencies.

Lawsky and his colleagues were joined by a panel of bitcoin investors. Fred Wilson, of Union Square Ventures, said the advent of bitcoin reminded him of a similar meteoric rise in peer-to-peer, distributed-system technology 

A hearing Tuesday on the regulatory future of Bitcoin instead turned into a forum on the shortcomings of the traditional banking industry. The hearing, called by New York State's top financial regulator, Benjamin M. Lawsky, gave five Bitcoin advocates