Since bitcoins were first mined and traded, a legal question has lingered about whether the virtual currency is money.

A federal judge in Manhattan is the latest to wrestle with the question. And like a number of her judicial peers, the judge concluded that yes, bitcoins qualify as money, at least under a federal anti-money laundering statute.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan came in the criminal case over the 2014 cyberattack on J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Reports Reuters:

[Judge Nathan] rejected a bid by Anthony Murgio to dismiss two charges related to his alleged operation of Coin.mx, which prosecutors have called an unlicensed bitcoin exchange.

Monday's decision hinged on the judge's reading of a federal law that makes it a crime to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Mr. Murgio's lawyers argued that counts in the indictment should be dismissed because the law shouldn't apply to bitcoins.