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Bitcoin hits $700 high as US Senate stages hearing on virtual currency

Bitcoin hit new highs on Monday, as the Senate held its first hearing on the controversial virtual currency.
The currency topped $700 on the MT Gox exchange, where it is traded, as the Senate discussion began. In April the currency hit a high of $266. Two years ago, Bitcoin was valued at $20.
Before the meeting Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, gave his cautious blessing to the currency. In a letter to the Senate homeland security and government affairs committee, Bernanke said such currencies “may hold long-term promise, particularly if the innovations promote a faster, more secure and more efficient payment system”.
But the Fed chair also warned that he had little power to regulate online currencies.
“Although the Federal Reserve generally monitors developments in virtual currencies and other payments system innovations, it does not necessarily have authority to directly supervise or regulate these innovations or the entities that provide them to the market,” he said.
The hearing before the Senate committee was entitled Beyond Silk Road: Potential Risks, Threats and Promises of Virtual Currencies. Silk Road was an online black market known as “Amazon for drugs” that used Bitcoin for transactions and was closed by the FBI in October. Bitcoins can be traded anonymously and trades are difficult to track.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/18/bitcoin-risks-rewards-senate-hearing-virtual-currency

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