More Big Trouble for Bitcoin

Planet Money’s Adam Davidson visits Stephen Colbert to talk about the recent troubles for the digital currency Bitcoin, this discussion occurring prior to the most recent revelations about large-scale theft at the now shuttered Mt. Gox and a new report about the computer virus “Pony Botnet” that is believed to have absconded with some of the digital money.

There is much talk about how this could be “the fatal blow” for Bitcoin since, after all, currencies are based on trust and with this gross violation of that trust, Mt. Gox may have caused irreparable harm.

The other major Bitcoin exchanges are claiming that one bad actor shouldn’t tarnish the entire currency, but, with a spectacular rise in price and now what appears to be the bursting of that bubble, the remaining exchanges have a tough job ahead of them.