The US Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has set 18th November as the date for its hearing into bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
US Senator Tom Carper, chairman of the committee, said last week that the aim of the hearing, titled 'Beyond Silk Road: potential risks, threats, and promises of virtual currencies', is to "dig into what a whole-government approach to this new and unique technology may look like".
According to a post on the Bitcoin Talk forum, several people representing bitcoin interests have been invited to testify, including members of the Bitcoin Foundation.
The hearing will feature two separate panels, one representing US law enforcement agencies and another representing bitcoin, extolling the virtues of digital currencies.
The US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs is also soon to hold a hearing about bitcoin, although the exact date of this is yet to be made public.
Several commenters on the Bitcoin Talk forum questioned the need for bitcoin community cooperation with government and the willingness to offer up information on bitcoin's inner workings.
Others stressed that, while bitcoin itself is decentralized and independent, to function in the real-world economy it also needs to integrate with widely-used (and regulated) infrastructures and fiat currencies.
