Digital Currency Bitcoin Gains Virtual Interest

While the debate over whether the 4-year-old bitcoin is a revolutionary invention or a Ponzi scheme rages, some people have already used them to buy real things and appreciate the smooth and fast transaction process.

"When you use the bitcoin payment system, it's like an online payment but it's more convenient," said Shen Yu, a 23-year-old postgraduate student who is majoring in telecommunications at a university in Beijing.

With 20 bitcoins, worth 6,000 yuan (US$979) at the time of payment, Shen bought a laptop from an e-commerce platform in the United States.

"When you pay with bitcoins, the transaction is fast and you don't need a foreign currency credit card such as MasterCard or Visa, which is usually required by websites that do not accept bitcoin payments," said Shen.

Most of those involved in the trading of bitcoins, known as bitcoiners, are students and information technology professionals. They favor transactions using bitcoins because they can't be bothered using complicated online payments or with currency exchanges, said Shen.

In China, acceptance of bitcoins as something valuable first became known to the public when holders of the digital currency donated the coins to the e-wallet account for the victims of the Sichuan Ya'an earthquake. In China, some online retailers selling products ranging from three yuan phone cases to 1,000 yuan (US$163) bedding announced that they would accept payment using bitcoins. People can also pay with bitcoins in various coffee shops, phone and computer stores and bookstores in Beijing and Shanghai.

Shen's 200 bitcoins were earned through "mining", a process of intensive computer calculation based on specific cryptographic rules.

Bitcoiners make money, or bitcoins by laboring, which is setting up a better environment for the bitcoin society through the Internet, said Shen.