2013-03-28 How An Unregulated, Decentralized Virtual Currency Just Became A...

[gweedo]

http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/28/bitcoin-how-an-unregulated-decentralized-virtual-currency-just-became-a-billion-dollar-market/

Hang around in the tech industry long enough and you or someone you know will be heard saying, “that’s so crazy it just might work.” Two years ago, if you’d told me that an open-source, P2P currency would soon be a thriving, billion-dollar market, I would’ve told you that you were on a lonely bus headed to CrazyTown, U.S.A. But today, Bitcoin officially became a crazy idea that’s actually working.

Today, all the Bitcoin in circulation — some 10.9 million of them — have collectively crossed the billion-dollar mark. As it is wont to do, the value of Bitcoin (and its exchange rate) has fluctuated wildly today. At one point, it hit a dollar value around $78, then pushed into the mid-nineties. As of this minute, it’s hovering around $90.

[nimda]

Contains the obligatory SR reference, but is otherwise fairly fair. My favorite part:

Either way, feel free to marvel at how a virtual currency that appeared practically out of thin air (created by some phantom mathematician/economist) just became a billion-dollar market.

good description of Satoshi.