It appears not only people in the tech world believe Bitcoin is the currency of the future — one of the US’ biggest banks also sees legitimacy in the virtual currency. Bank of America published its first research report on Bitcoin on Thursday saying that the digital currency could become a major contender to other types of online money-transfer providers. “We believe Bitcoin could become a major means of payment for e-commerce and may emerge as a serious competitor to traditional money-transfer providers,” Bank of America wrote in its report. “As a medium of exchange, Bitcoin has clear potential for growth, in our view.” While there are other digital currencies, Bitcoin is probably the most well known. It’s been around since 2009, but didn’t really get going until 2011 when it was worth $2 per coin. By 2013, the currency had climbed to $20 per coin, and then jumped to $266 in April.