A TASK force of U.S. state regulators is working on the first bitcoin rule-book, the head of the group said, hoping to protect users of virtual currency from fraud without smothering the fledgling technology.

    Numerous companies in the United States enable customers to pay for goods and services in virtual currencies. But since bitcoins are not regulated by the federal government, users face a maze of rules in the 50 states.

    “We may be looking at some type of model definitions, or model laws or regulations, and very likely recommendations to either our federal colleagues or to Congress,” David Cotney, Massachusetts Commissioner of Banks, said Friday.

    Cotney was appointed in February to head the new Emerging Payments Task Force, a group of nine members of the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS). He said the task force had given itself roughly a year to complete the task.

    The task force was hoping for a clearer definition of which operators needed to be regulated and which ones did not, Cotney said in the interview.

    “Who’s in and who’s out? So if we can offer that (it) would be a ... big step,” he said. Cotney’s group also looks at other new payment technologies, such as mobile phone payments, and PayPal, an online money transfer service.(SD-Agencies)