The Basics on Bitcoin: 11 Things to Know

ust three weeks ago, a single bitcoin -- a form of virtual currency -- sold for less than US $50 on the Mt. Gox virtual currency exchange. Now, the exchange rate hovers around US $140 per bitcoin, placing the value of the total bitcoin money supply at around $1.5 billion. The four-year-old currency -- known "primarily to fuel a shadow economy of vice," as The Guardian's Heidi Moore described it -- received mainstream attention after the Cyprus bailout debacle in March coincided with its sudden rise in value. Since then, its story has taken on a life of its own.