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Bitcoin prices rose above the $1,000 (€731, £606)-mark once again Monday, peaking at $1,038 on Tokyo-based MT Gox bitcoin exchange. This essentially countered the negative effects of a sell-off in emerging markets.
The price was fluctuating between US$772 and US$881 on average at much of the bitcoin exchanges throughout the past 24 hours, relatively stable considering that one of the leading bitcoin exchange CEO’s, Charlie Shrem, was arrested by US authorities Sunday at New York’s JFK Airport. Shrem operates BitInstant.
The U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York said Shrem helped someone he hadn't met in person, Robert Faiella, sell more than $1 million worth of bitcoins to Silk Road customers. Faiella, a 52-year-old Florida man, allegedly ran an underground Bitcoin exchange using the alias BTCKing. Silk Road was one of the first underground websites to engage in bitcoin transactions, mostly for illicit drug deals.
Faiella was taken into custody at his home in Cape Coral, Fla., on Monday.
BitInstant received a $1.5 million investment last year from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. Shrem is also vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation, one of the currency's biggest advocates.
Online gambling companies have begun to embrace the anonymous digital currency after more than a year of apprehensions.
Last week, major online retailer Overstock.com announced it too would begin permitting bitcoin transactions. Two Las Vegas hotels made a similar announcement.
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
