SmartMetric Inc. is launching a Bitcoin card protected with biometric fingerprint authentication. The card can be used as offline storage for bitcoins, but in the future it might also be used for payment.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., China's largest e-commerce website, will ban the sale of Bitcoin and other virtual currencies after the country's central bank tightened regulations in December.

A pair of companies has launched services on Twitter that allow users to transact in Bitcoin across the microblogging site. And while Twitter has been selective of what companies facilitate payments in the past, the social networking giant hasn't yet touched these Bitcoin services.

The new year got off to a mixed start for virtual currency, with regulators in Asia clamping down on Bitcoin and gaming company Zynga embracing the emerging payments option.

Taiwan's Financial Supervisory Commission is barring Bitcoin ATMs because the country's regulatory body views Bitcoin as a false currency that should not be used by people or banks for payments.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and other companies have seen more than $200 million in sales in 2013 for computing components used to create Bitcoins, Wedbush Securities Inc. said.

While most gift cards are still made of plastic, digital cards are increasing in popularity among consumers because of the many options to customize the cards.

Under Fincen's March 2013 guidance, companies that transmit virtual currency must register as money services businesses. De Castro was unsure whether his investment company would be treated the same way. According to the letter from Fincen, its rules are not meant to apply to De Castro's business.

As more payments companies seek the next big thing, they are finding that mobile payments tech is due for a makeover, and a lot more attention surrounds digital currency such as Bitcoin.

Lamassu has received more than 120 orders for its Bitcoin ATMs in the first four months after launch, and has set up a map of locations.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued a warning on the risks of virtual currencies, and the country's largest Bitcoin trading platform has shut down.

TipperCoin is attempting to combine two concepts that have faced strong headwinds in the past year: digital currency and Twitter-based payments.

Bitcoin may get the most attention, but several merchants are beginning to accept a digital currency called Litecoin, the second largest digital currency by market capitalization.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the country's central bank, has decided not to interfere with transactions made in the digital currency.

The Armory Bitcoin Wallet, a security and payments application, has changed its technology to require less computer memory – but it's still a product for power users

The Bitcoin community has long dealt with wild fluctuations in the digital currency's value, and as the digital currency has surged to several hundred dollars per bitcoin, more consumers and merchants are adopting the digital currency.

The spread of Bitcoins is now prompting regulators in Scandinavia to draft new rules in an effort to prevent virtual money from slipping into a legal gray zone.

Chinese central bank officials told third-party payment service providers to stop offering clearing services to online Bitcoin exchanges, according to China Business News, which is affiliated with the Shanghai government.

Many companies are already looking past the mobile phone to find the next high-tech payment device. A few companies are also equipping fashion items with Near Field Communication chips and other technology that can be repurposed by the payments industry.

Bitcoin enthusiasts are expressing confusion and surprise after Casascius Coin, which encodes a digital bitcoins onto physical coins, halted operations after receiving notification from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network that it is subject to the department's oversight.