The Internet has been abuzz lately with talk of virtual currency.

What is virtual currency you ask? Virtual currency is money or something of value that can be exchanged for goods and services. The "something of value" has to be virtual. There are historic examples of objects other than currency being used like this. For example, during the Great Depression many cities used cigarettes as currency.

You might think this is nuts, but it is really not. If a society agrees that something is valuable and ordinary people are willing to give up goods and services for it, then you have currency. (Hence the cigarette example)

As you digest this information here is something else to think about: How can virtual currency be counterfeited and what sort of anti-counterfeiting measures can be put in place to stop it from being copied? Virtual currency would be counterfeited by copying files or creating files or firmware that were not earned or backed up by anyone. Like counterfeit physical currency, this would cause inflation and fraud.

InkSure does not really have a good answer for how to stop this type of currency counterfeiting. We are a company that provides anti-counterfeiting technologies for physical banknote security. Virtual currency counterfeiting is closer to software piracy and should probably be dealt with in a similar manner.

Any blog readers have ideas of good anti-counterfeiting strategies for virtual currency?