http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/55733b80-addf-11e2-a2c7-00144feabdc0.htmlDocuments some of the ridicule Bitcoin has received from Colbert Report and also a recent panel of central bankers, responding to question.
As on the Colbert Report show, so too at the New York branch of the Federal Reserve, which held a gathering this week for some of the grandees of financial regulation. When one person asked if Bitcoin could become a viable unit of international exchange, participants burst out laughing.
Coverage of exchange bank freezes in Canada and Europe.
But the craze for Bitcoin has brought debate and scrutiny to them all, and we might already have entered the phase when the regulators strike back.
In recent weeks, several Bitcoin businesses have had their bank accounts shut down, suggesting traditional banks are getting worried about enabling the currency.
On currency competition.
OpenCoin chief executive, Chris Larsen, doesn’t see lots of virtual, borderless currencies competing. He thinks there might be one big winner. “I think of it like this: what did MySpace have to do to beat Friendster, and what did Facebook have to do to beat MySpace? Can anyone iterate on Facebook? There were hundreds of attempts at social networks, but only three big steps to get where we are.”
