Via AFP:

Once the preserve of cyber geeks or of dodgy traders, the virtual currency bitcoin can now not only be used to buy goods online but also pay for a degree at the University of Nicosia.

Yet the newfound popularity of the currency, which was worth almost nothing until April 2011 and which now trades at around $1,000, may well prove its undoing.

Market watchers and regulators are at odds over how the bitcoin should be handled, but as the currency gains prominence, voices warning against its use are getting louder.

France's central bank has slapped it down as "highly speculative" while Ch...

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