Bitcoin qualifies as money, a US Federal District Court Judge ruled on 19 September, in a decision linked to a criminal case over hacking attacks against JPMorgan Chase & Co and other companies.

Reuters said US District Judge Alison Nathan in Manhattan rejected a bid by Anthony Murgio to dismiss 2 charges related to his alleged operation of Coin.mx, which prosecutors have called an unlicensed bitcoin exchange.

Murgio had argued that bitcoin did not qualify as “funds” under the US Federal law prohibiting the operation of unlicensed money transmitting businesses.

But the judge, like her colleague Judge Jed Rakoff in an unrelated 2014 case, said the virtual currency met that definition.

“Bitcoins are funds within the plain meaning of that term,”

Nathan wrote.

“Bitcoins can be accepted as a payment for goods and services or bought directly from an exchange with a bank account. They therefore function as pecuniary resources and are used as a medium of exchange and a means of payment.”

[Reuters article] [LTN 182, 20/9/16]