We get it! Bitcoin, the newfangled virtual currency, is difficult for normals to understand. Fortunately, this handy CBS News graphic from its segment on the Silk Road bust earlier this week has some answers. In that it is the opposite of helpful or correct.


Bitcoins are not real coins, or really even physical currency (although, it is possible to get physical tokens with an encrypted hash printed on them for physical exchange). What it's definitely not is a pile of gold that Scrooge McDuck could dive into.

And while bitcoins may not be legal tender, and exist on the internet, they are most certainly a real currency; you can exchange them for all kinds of goods and services! Fun fact, a single BTC is worth about $137, so on the right, we should be looking at piles and piles of cash instead of what looks to be about $1.37 worth of pocket change.


[CBS News via Instagram—Thanks, Matt!]