Bitcoins Soar to Major Milestone

Bitcoins reached a major milestone today, with a single coin now worth more than $1,000—which is pretty impressive, given that they started the month just a bit north of $200, the Washington Post points out. Bitcoin has soared to these heights in part thanks to praise from the Senate and the Fed. The prices represent a massive boon for early adopters; Bitcoin's lead developer famously bought 10,000 of them for $50 early on, which would today be a $10 million fortune.

It's worth noting that Bitcoin prices can vary substantially from exchange to exchange; the $1,000 price comes from Mt.Gox, the most popular exchange; the second most popular, Bitstamp, has them for $950. But at the New York Times, Adrian Chen (who takes credit for giving the currency an early boost) is skeptical that any of these high prices will last. "The crash is going to be great," he writes. "Bitcoin is too dependent on speculative mania to be of practical use as a currency." (More bitcoin stories.)