Bitcoins - the biggest thing in online payments since PayPal?

Sir Richard Branson thinks so. Virgin Galactic has begun accepting bitcoins.

With Silk Road infamously biting the dust last week and Australia's bitcoin exchange start-up, CoinJar having secured $500,000 in investment, it seems that people are willing to hedge their bets on this virtual gold mine.

But before you take the plunge, here are a few things to consider:

1. What the heck are they?

2. If we remove all of the geek speak (i.e. open source P2P payment network, crypto-currency, public keys, etc), bitcoins are essentially a form of virtual currency that has been around since 2009. People have used them to buy everything from meat to homes.

1. Why you might want to use bitcoins: