The very name ‘cryptocurrency’ evokes images of shadowy figures sitting behind computers transferring money that for some reason can’t be done through traditional means. While bitcoins are still a fringe form of currency, PayPal has announced that it now accepts bitcoins on its Braintree platform—Braintree is a startup that makes software tools for developers that PayPal acquired. While you won’t be using bitcoin for buying products in mainstream stores yet, PayPal’s backing of bitcoin hints that that jump is not far off.