This pioneering seminar attempted to elucidate the rise, purpose, operational intricacies, societal benefits and multiple risks of Bitcoin and the emerging breed of alternative digital currencies. For the first time in history, Bitcoin allows individual consumers to make payments and move funds securely, completely outside of the traditional financial system. In recent months, there has been a lot of hype about the risk of virtual currencies, but not much explanation about how they work and what the real risks and also societal benefits are. In this session, regulators, executives and risk managers had the opportunity to learn how Bitcoin and other digital currencies work, what the true risks are and what can be done to both manage the risks and exploit the opportunities.