The term bitcoin may be familiar to many of us, but if pressed would you really be able to explain what it is and how it works?

The virtual currency, launched five years ago, can be used as a form of trading just like cash, gold or shares.

The University of Cumbria has become the first in the UK to allow some students to use the bitcoin to pay tuition fees.

But will it really revolutionise the way we pay for things, as some predict? Breakfast's Tim Muffett has been investigating.