Heard of Bitcoin? We thought so.
Cryptocurrency is a virtual currency that's traded online. The downside is that it’s not backed up by gold like regular currencies, and its value fluctuates both up and down. But you can exchange cryptocurrency for products, services, and “real” money, with over 100,000 merchants now accepting it as payment.
In addition to Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies include Litecoin, Namecoin, and PPCoin. And if someone talks about mining for Bitcoin in Iceland, you won’t need to bring a shovel. That’s just where they store a lot of the servers that process transactions.