As tax time looms, the IRS has set forth rules about whether they will treat (and so you should treat) Bitcoins and other virtual currency as, well, currency, or property, for tax purposes. The short answer is that the IRS will treat virtual currency such as Bitcoin as property for tax purposes. Here is a more full explanation.

Charlie Shrem, founder of Bitcoin exchange BitInstant.com, and BitCoin broker Robert Faiella (a/k/a BTCKing), have been arrested and charged with money laundering in connection with the use of Bitcoins to purchase drugs and other illegal items on the now defunct (shut down) Silk Road.

There has been a lot in the news lately about Bitcoins (known in the trade as “BTC”) and Bitcoin Mining, but to the average person it’s still very confusing. What are Bitcoins? How does Bitcoin Mining work? What is the Silk Road, which is often mentioned in the same breath as Bitcoins? And why is Congress holding hearings on Bitcoins? Here are the plain English explanations for all of these.