Bitcoin, a decentralized virtual currency, has been declared illegal in Thailand. Members of the Foreign Exchange Administration and Policy Department made the determination at a meeting on July 29 in the Southeastern Asian country, according to a Bitcoin exchange operator in attendance.

India's consumers have everything they need to move away from cash—they're just waiting for the right catalyst, according to Visa's Sam Shawki.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued a Texas man over claims he operated a Ponzi scheme involving Bitcoin, the virtual currency that has recently attracted investors including Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss.

Shopkick now allows consumers to make purchases directly from its mobile app, which rewards consumers for visiting its merchant clients in-person.

The PayVest event in New York, presented by PaymentsSource, American Banker and NYPAY, brought together many key players in emerging payments and technology. Many of them are taking different paths to the future.

Prepaid card and technology provider InComm has launched an in-store digital sales program, allowing consumers to buy digital gift cards and other virtual items alongside physical ones at brick-and-mortar merchant locations.

Have you ever imagined starting your own bitcoin exchange? Soon, Vancouver-based Bex.io will make that possible by deploying exchange functionality under a Software as a Service (SaaS) model.

Kipochi, an African online service launched this month, is looking for a way to connect the digital currency Bitcoin to M-Pesa, Kenya's widely-used mobile payments system.

Bitcoin exchange Coinbase will offer instant purchases for users that supply identity information, with others having to wait four days for transactions to complete.

Fidor Bank AG, of Munich, has agreed to help Bitcoin Deutschland GmbH, an exchange operator, to speed trading of bitcoins and comply with regulatory requirements.

With the government cracking down on digital currency players such as Liberty Reserve and Mt. Gox, many ask whether it's a move to squash the development of virtual currencies and what action the government will take next.

Because Bitcoin transactions are virtually instant, free and near-anonymous, charitable organizations are collecting and distributing donations in bitcoin.

A turn towards small local Bitcoin exchanges could keep the digital currency out of trouble while preserving the self-sufficient ethos of the Bitcoin community.

Many merchants are still wary about accepting bitcoins, but new vendor partnerships and a maturation of the companies that handle bitcoin exchanges address some of the virtual currency's riskier aspects.

While many still see Bitcoin as an unrealistic payment method, venture capitalists say there are clear use cases for the decentralized cryptocurrency in micropayments, international remittance and charity.

Crypto Street, a startup that’s building a platform for trading digital currencies like Bitcoin, is making a point of forging relationships with multiple banks after similar businesses suddenly lost their bank accounts and folded or scaled back.

BitPay, which processes payments for merchants in the virtual currency Bitcoin, has attracted some investors with a pedigree in pioneering alternative ways to send and receive money.

Through a partnership with Bitcoin payment processor BitPay Inc., Gyft now accepts bitcoins for its mobile gift card product. This extends the virtual currency's reach to more than 50,000 retail locations.

Tradehill is relaunching its virtual currency trading system after it shut down an earlier version of its offering last year amid regulatory disputes and a legal fight with online payment company Dwolla.

People — and payment companies — are starting to take Bitcoin seriously.The decentralized virtual currency is overcoming its stigma as a fringe currency for illegal transactions and is stirring up consumer scrutiny of the practices of large payment providers. The payments industry is changing rapidly, but today the movement isn't about payments — it's about data.