Senior U.S. law-enforcement and regulatory officials said they see benefits in digital forms of money and are making progress in tackling its risks. The price of bitcoin, the most common virtual currency, soared to a record following the comments.

U.S. authorities, appearing Monday at the first-ever congressional hearing on virtual currencies, outlined the pitfalls and promises of bitcoin amid concern the anonymity and decentralized nature of some virtual currencies can help facilitate crimes. The hearing provided a financial lift to bitcoin as U.S. officials, who have previously highlighted the currency’s role in money laundering and other illicit activities, called it a “legitimate” financial service.

WASHINGTON: Call it a speculative bubble or the rise of a currency of the future: the bitcoin jumped in value Tuesday after US authorities appeared to give the virtual money their blessing. 

The electronic currency that is suspected of being used for illicit transactions on the Internet reached a value of $900 for the first time on specialized currency exchange websites. 

But it is highly volatile, and a few hours later it was down to $700, according to Mt GOX, which manages trad ..

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