Bitcoin has been attracting a lot of interest—or at least curiosity—from companies and consumers alike, not to mention governments and financial watchdogs.

That’s why CES 2015 is highlighting the virtual currency in a 2,000-square-foot island where companies including BitPay, Bitman, Bitstamp, Blockchain, Circle, CoPay, Kraken, Private Internet Access, Robocoin and yBitcoin—collectively representing more than $100 million in venture capital—have been showing their wares in the Wild West that is the Bitcoin economy.

“Bitcoin is rapidly redefining financial and commercial paradigms,” says Emily Vaughn, Marketing Manager at BitPay. “The showcase represents some of the top talent in bitcoin technology and will provide a unique experience for the 170,000 CES attendees.”[more]

The product offerings range from how to purchase bitcoin and set up a bitcoin exchange account to online security and a demonstration of mining hardware.

Bitcoiners on the island include BitPay, which is highlighting a new version of its CoPay Bitcoin wallet for Windows Mobile.

“This is one of our contributions to the Bitcoin technology,” said BitPay CEO Stephen Pair. “Microsoft’s support has enabled us to make our code available to a new group of developers and companies. We look forward to seeing how Copay evolves.”

Gliph Inc. announced Gliph Marketplace, a new way to buy and sell locally using cash and Bitcoin. A feature of the new marketplace is a P2P transaction experience the company has dubbed “deal flow.” The feature helps users focus on completing a deal by “integrating messaging and useful push notifications into the buying and selling experience.” Deal flow also offers intuitive listing status updates, and claims to earn money faster by making digital payments an integrated part of the experience.

Meanwhile, cyber security startup, HyprKey, is showcasing its patent-pending HYPR-3 biometric payment gateway technology, a 3.2 mm Bluetooth sticker that secures credit cards and bitcoin. Stick it on a keychain or smartphone and have one year of battery life and back-up when you leave your wallet at home.

“As technology increasingly transforms commerce, the payments landscape is poised to benefit from security and efficiencies,” said HyprKey CEO George Avetisov. “HYPR-3 is a technology we expect to gain prominence as a direct result of showcasing its functionality, which includes the ability to spend bitcoin without ever owning bitcoin and the capability of safeguarding user accounts like bankcards behind an impenetrable key.”

In countries like Nigeria, where financial theft and fraud are rampant, bitcoin is a game-changer. “Nigerian online consumers simply do not have the same access to goods and services from international vendors due to one simple thing: credit card fraud,” said ICE3X founder Gareth Grobler. “Bitcoin solves that problem.”

Payment processor VoguePay has partnered with South African bitcoin exchange ICE3X to begin bitcoin trading in Nigeria. “VoguePay have spotted the opportunity bitcoin offers, seeing as one of the primary attributes of bitcoin is its security,” added Grobler.

Despite the full-steam-ahead attitude at CES, controversy still swirls around the digital currency. On an alarming note, Canadian Bitcoin exchange Vault of Satoshi is shutting down Feb. 5 and the Ontario-based exchange is no longer accepting new deposits.

“We’d like to reassure the community that it has absolutely nothing to do with insolvency, stolen funds, or any other unfortunate scenario,” the operators posted. “Our decision stems from opportunities presented by a new business that has forced us to reexamine our priorities.”

The closure coincides with Bitstamp’s admission that some of its operational wallets were compromised Jan. 4, leading to “a loss of less than 19,000” bitcoins, which is roughly $5.1 million.

Speculation that Bitstamp is “Mt. Gox 2.0,” having reportedly lost $5 million since it was allegedly hacked Jan. 5th, likely caused the company-in-crisis to not attend CES 2015 despite having bought a stand.

This kind of news spreads like wildfire, fanned by crypto-currency critics, and Bitcoin recently sank below $300 for the first time in over a year. Still, believers like Silicon Valley legend Marc Andreessen are undeterred.

2/A year ago I articulated my views on Bitcoin in the New York Times, and I wouldn’t change a word today: http://t.co/2yuRx724ZJ — Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) January 5, 2015

—Image at top via @bitcoinsusan. Click here for more coverage from CES 2015.