Hit pay dirt with 'virtual gold' but mining it can be messy business

Paris

AS THE poster child for the growing ranks of computer-generated currencies, bitcoin's recent stratospheric price rises have propelled it from the chat forum-hosted depths of nerddom into the global consciousness.

As it rose from under US$1,000 to over US$19,500 at one point this year, hordes of tech-savvy punters have rushed in to buy, while any investor can now do the same on the US futures markets.