[00:00.100]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.620]this is the Economics Report.
[00:05.670]Many people who want to buy goods, pay for services,
[00:10.530]or send money anywhere in the world are using Bitcoin.
[00:15.430]They do not have to use banks, credit cards
[00:19.150]or other financial services
[00:21.650]when they use the electronic currency.
[00:25.280]Unlike national currency,
[00:28.530]Bitcoin is not issued by governments.
[00:31.990]Bitcoin is electronically protected or encrypted.
[00:37.960]It is bought, sold and transferred
[00:41.970]like other currencies through trading companies.
[00:46.530]Transfers happen without governments being involved
[00:51.780]or regulating the currency.
[00:54.590]Jerry Brito is a technology policy analyst
[00:59.800]at George Mason University.
[01:02.420]He says Bitcoin is the world's first,
[01:06.180]true digital currency, that is not controlled by anyone.
[01:11.780]"Bitcoin basically solved a computer science problem that,
[01:17.240]for the first time, allows just two people to transact online,
[01:21.640]so it's decentralized. There's no Bitcoin company,
[01:23.990]there’s no government, it's kind of like email."
[01:27.210]However, the very things that people like about Bitcoin,
[01:32.210]are also what criminals like about it.
[01:35.820]They want to move money from place to place secretly,
[01:40.920]without governments knowing about it.
[01:43.890]Law enforcement agencies in the United States
[01:48.440]recently closed an online market that used Bitcoin.
[01:53.750]Marco Santori is the chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation's
[01:58.900]Regulatory Affairs Committee.
[02:01.600]He notes that all Bitcoin transactions
[02:06.010]can be seen by all other computers,
[02:09.170]and he says they believe
[02:11.570]that no one regulates the currency is not true.
[02:15.570]"Bitcoin is in fact heavily regulated.
[02:18.190]It is very heavily regulated.
[02:20.200]Those who exchange Bitcoins for other digital currencies
[02:23.860]or exchange Bitcoins for dollars are money transmitters
[02:27.480]under the Bank Secrecy Act," said Santori.
[02:29.130]The amount of Bitcoins in the system
[02:32.720]must always be counted and tracked.
[02:35.690]Users' computers that watch and approve Bitcoin sales
[02:41.340]and purchases are given new Bitcoins.
[02:45.600]Mr Brito says this is how more money is added to the system.
[02:51.820]"Every 10 minutes,
[02:52.970]there are about 25.5 Bitcoins introduced into the economy,
[02:56.940]and it is given to one of the miners,
[02:59.800]kind of at random as it were,
[03:02.340]who are contributing the computer capacity," said Brito.
[03:05.050]The United States, Germany,
[03:07.700]and many other governments accept the use of Bitcoins,
[03:11.810]but some officials have called for stronger regulations
[03:16.020]on the electronic currency.
[03:18.320]China recently banned its banks,
[03:22.000]but not businesses, from trading in Bitcoin.
[03:26.660]Since its beginning in 2009,
[03:30.910]the value of a Bitcoin has increased from just a few pennies
[03:36.030]to hundreds of American dollars.
[03:39.130]And that's the VOA Learning English Economics Report.