A person claims he was refused entry into the United States because authorities refused to believe that he was planning to fund his two month stay using the Bitcoin virtual currency.
In a blog first spotted by GeekWire, someone going by the name of Doctor Nefario - founder of the Global Bitcoin Stock Exchange - says he was sent back to China by Customs and Border Protection agents at Seattle airport earlier this month.
According to GeekWire, Nefario was planning to work with entrepreneurs Mike Koss and Peter Vessenes at their StartPad offices in Seattle and had already paid them in Bitcoins for office space.
However, at the airport, agents were concerned that Nefario planned to spend two months in the US with only $600 in cash and no credit card. In a session that lasted between five and six hours, Nefario then tried to explain Bitcoin and how it would fund the trip.
Says the blog: ""Although I was cash poor I had more than enough bitcoin to cover all the costs of my trip and stay, I was going to be meeting with bitoption later that morning in Seattle, he had $1500 of cash to exchange."
The agents were apparently unconvinced though and Nefario was put on a plane back to China, where he was questioned for another three hours about why he had been sent back.