Bitcoin allegedly has been used in a Ponzi scheme, and the schemer’s defense was that bitcoin is not real money, but a judge has ruled that it is a currency.
From Forbes:
“The only limitation of Bitcoin is that it is limited to those places that accept it as currency. However, it can also be exchanged for conventional currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, Euro, Yen, and Yuan,” writes Mazzant. “Therefore, Bitcoin is a currency or form of money, and investors wishing to invest in BTCST provided an investment of money.”
The ruling may lend bitcoin legitimacy to the virtual currency, but could all of this recognition stunt the currency’s growth? As the amount of regulatory oversight increases and the number of legal cases relating to bitcoin increases, it loses some of its renegade, cyberpunk flavor. The question is whether bitcoin can gather enough mainstream users before early adopters abandon it for something new.
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