Are virtual currencies here to stay? Will one of them become the world’s currency, supplanting the dollar as the currency of choice for international transactions? Probably not any time soon. Recently the Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the Internal Revenue Service issued statements designed to strongly discourage the use of virtual currencies.
Bitcoin is one of a number of virtual currencies (often referred to as crypto currencies) that are not issued by any central bank or government. Some feel this is a positive since no particular government can control the value of a virtual currency. Libertarians and anarchists, who desire no government authority over money, are leading proponents of crypto currencies. Experts estimate that there are 500,000 to 1,000,000 digital currency account users in the U.S.
