 Well, let's discuss this now with economist Mark Thornton, Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Mark, the Bitcoin markets, they've really taken a hit recently anyway, haven't they? What would this arrest do for the Bitcoin itself, its value and its future? Well, this is terrible for the Bitcoin market, at least temporarily. But this was a political event, not a legal or judicial event, this arrest. It was a political event meant to intimidate people in the Bitcoin space and it was a perfectly foreseeable event as well. But obviously we can't go into the exact nature of the charges, but does it not surprise you that he has been arrested for dealing with the Silk Road website, which of course was closed down and in effect laundering money through that? Does that not come as a surprise to you? No, not at all. He was selling his Bitcoins for cash basically and facilitating trade, but not actually, at least as far as these charges are concerned, involved in the trade. And basically he gave a speech last night about the merits of Bitcoin and in New York City today they're starting a two-day hearing on the future of Bitcoin right there in New York City where he was arrested. So it fits in right after the speech and right before this public hearing to be held in New York today. But Bitcoin has got a notorious reputation now, hasn't it, by being used by the underworld by criminals so they can't be traced and dealing with all sorts of suspect goods. Oh yeah, but Bitcoin's a small player, even in the illegal transactions. The US dollar is actually the major facilitator of illegal transactions of drugs, human trafficking, all sorts of nasty businesses. Most of that trade is done with the US dollar, not Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a small player. It has a small percentage of its transactions are illegal, that's true, but the majority are for legal goods, whereas the US dollar is the primary player in international trade and illicit items. Could Bitcoin eventually become a major threat to the dollar? Well, it is a threat, but it's something that's not going to happen in the next day or the next year. It's going to take some time to develop. And basically the central bank, the Federal Reserve and central banks around the world can fight off Bitcoin by providing a more stable dollar, a more stable euro. They're in the business right now of making the world uncertain as to the future of money. And so that's the only reason why Bitcoin has become so prominent today. It's become prominent now, Mark, but is it not a fad that is going to vanish eventually? Well, that's for the history books. We don't know, but I think the chances are is that Bitcoin has some advantages over traditional money that make it look like it's going to have a future. Or if not Bitcoin, then some form of electronic, transmittable monetary systems outside of the purview of central banks. I think that's for sure. Just a quick question. We talked about Silk Road there and I understand that the US government owns billions worth of millions, I should say, worth of Bitcoins after the shutdown of that website. But what would it be doing with that money, do you think? Well, they're not the true owner. They have possession of those Bitcoins. I think that their governments tend to be technologically inept and I'm pretty sure they probably won't know what to do with them for quite some time. You say all this is political and this is the US government targeting Bitcoin, but will we see other governments also joining the US and targeting the Bitcoin, seeing it as a threat? Well, I think that other countries have started to make their intentions known. I think that if they see Bitcoin as becoming a problem for them, that they may step in. I think China is worried about people moving capital outside of China and so they're putting regulations and issuing threats. And so I think that that is something that we're going to see is that when Bitcoin becomes a problem for governments, that governments are going to step in and try to regulate them and try to restrict people's access and limit the amount of transactions that take place with Bitcoin relative to their own domestic currency. Mark, great to talk to you. Thank you very much indeed. Thanks for your thoughts on this. It'll be interesting to see what the future for the Bitcoin holds. Thank you very much indeed. Mark Thornton, thank you. Thank you for the Ludwig von Mises Institute. Thanks.