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Bitcoin Demystified At Music Hall In Portsmouth

Flickr user "btckeychain."

  About 100 people -- both dedicated bitcoin devotees and the merely bitcoin-curious -- gathered Thursday night at the Music Hall for an hour-long symposium on the digital currency.  Event organizer Joshua Cyr says the purpose of the evening is to demystify the public about what bitcoin is.

Bitcoin being a new thing, we need to take care in how we’re describing it so that we’re describing it fully, because if people get bits of bad news and not the whole picture, it does more harm than good for the general public.

Cyr says after the bitcoin company Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy in February, many people thought bitcoin itself had gone bankrupt.  In fact, he says, the currency rebounded in value almost immediately. 

Thursday’s symposium in Portsmouth is part of a quarterly event called Digital Portsmouth. 

Others in the region are also getting excited about bitcoin. Nearby in Newmarket, customers at the Pao Café can pay their tab in the digital currency. The establishment claims to be the first NH restaurant to accept bitcoin.

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