No. But it may be prone to the scrutiny given to more traditional financial structures. At the Manhattan press conference, David Cohen the, Treasury Department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, has issued proposed rules that would prevent US banks from working with foreign banks that process Liberty Reserve transactions, effectively cutting it off from the US financial system.

Rick Bowmer/AP/FIle
Mike Caldwell, a 35-year-old software engineer, holds a 25 Bitcoin token at his shop last month in Sandy, Utah. The Liberty Reserve case doesn't mean the US is trying to eliminate digital currency, law enforcement officials said. Rather, they are trying to better regulate it.