Mining for value

Usually, a bitcoin owner acquires a coin through "mining", which involves a complicated process of calculations with many partners.

"I mine a bitcoin with 10 other co-miners, I gain only 10 percent or less, so I can collect only 0.1 coin.

"If I want to collect eight coins, equivalent to about 36,000 yuan, it may take years under current mining conditions," said Shenyu.

The cost for mining a bitcoin is about $180 each at the moment, far less than what it would cost to buy one in the market, according to the current bitcoin exchange rate for the dollar.

But the complex and difficult requirements for mining mean most people can obtain bitcoins only through trading.

According to a Forbes report, the digital currency has gotten an official nod in the United States, in the form of a primer out of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.

Francois R Velde, senior economist at the Chicago Fed, called the young currency a "remarkable conceptual and technical achievement, which may well be used by existing financial institutions."