Charlie Shrem, the former Bitcoin Foundation Inc. executive who pleaded guilty to charges tied to the illicit online bazaar "Silk Road," was sentenced to two years in prison by a judge who rejected his bid to remain free and "change the world."

Charlie Shrem, the former Bitcoin Foundation vice chairman who pleaded guilty to federal charges tied to the illicit online bazaar “Silk Road,” was sentenced to 2 years in prison despite his lawyer’s bid for only probation.

Benjamin Lawsky, New York's top financial regulator, sharply criticized banks for their failure to speed up the payment system, warning that the government may step in if they continue to lag behind.

New York financial regulator Benjamin Lawsky revised his proposal for policing virtual-currency companies to eliminate some rules that Silicon Valley claimed would crush the fledgling industry.

One big question in the debate over regulating cryptocurrencies is whether to apply existing rules to these new technologies or craft new ones. A state regulators' trade group recognizes that there may be no one right answer.

Many disruptive technologies come from startups, but just as many seem to come from companies that have been around for decades. Whether developing a new system in-house or providing a necessary proving ground for a partner, these older companies are bringing fresh innovations to the payments industry.

Microsoft is working with Bitcoin merchant services provider BitPay to allow customers to seamlessly exchange the virtual currency when loading money into their Microsoft accounts.

Paul Camp, a veteran of JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank, has joined the digital-currency consumer finance company Circle Internet Financial as the startup’s new chief financial officer.

Tax authorities all over the world are making decisions on how to view the new and increasingly popular decentralized digital currencies such as Bitcoin.

Earthport, a cross-border payments service provider, has partnered with the digital currency network provider Ripple Labs to allow enterprise businesses, including banks, to more efficiently transmit money worldwide.

Bitcoin wallet providers have had a touchy relationship with prepaid cards. But whether or not these companies care about plastic, they should care about how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's prepaid proposal affects them.

U.S. Bancorp recently began offering paperless account opening after seeing good results from electronically signed and documented lending. Yet a large segment of the industry still hesitates to use this technology, for legal, technical and cultural reasons.

Banks and other traditional payment companies need to keep an open mind when assessing the market today as new entrants build systems to disrupt the old models, said Christine Cumming, first vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Biometric authentication may seem all the rage now that Apple uses fingerprint authentication in its mobile wallet, but the Bitcoin ATM provider RoboCoin has concluded that biometric technology can be more of a hassle than a help.

Whether financial services executives love or hate Bitcoin, experts say the digital currency's underlying technology will inevitably affect their businesses. And the next generation of consumers are driving this change.

Kim Kardashian may be an overexposed reality star, but she's also a tech entrepreneur with a short-lived past in the payments industry. And several companies in the Bitcoin space are repeating her biggest mistake by offering a plastic payment card.

NCR's updating its NCR Silver point of sale system to support Bitcoin transactions as retailer acceptance of virtual currency starts to accelerate.

Bitcoin merchant services provider BitPay added support for contactless Near Field Communication payments through its new Bitcoin Checkout App, eliminating several steps in its payment process.

The New York Department of Financial Services will likely institute an on-ramp for new Bitcoin businesses — and possibly any other kind of money transmitting startups — as a way for them to launch without being burdened by costly licensing requirements.

New York may offer transitional licenses to small virtual-currency firms and startups to let them grow before facing the full burden of new regulation, the state’s top financial watchdog said.