On June 8, 2011, the same day Ars Technica ran its first story about Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer digital currency’s value jumped to an all-time high of $32. Bitcoins had been worth less than $1 just two months earlier, and that day proved to be the peak of the bubble. The value of a Bitcoin fell below $20 within a week, and by November it had fallen to $2. But since it hit bottom late last year, the cryptocurrency has defied skeptics (including me ) who predicted it would prove to be a passing fad. The currency regained some of its lost value, and the price has become much more stable in recent months.

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Porn, gambling, and malware: Bitcoin as the ‘Net’s Wild West