“Hiding behind their computers, BitInstant defendants are charged with knowingly contributing to and facilitating anonymous drug sales.”

Charlie Shrem, the vice chairman of the Bitcoin Foundation charged by federal prosecutors with conspiring to launder more than $1 million in the virtual currency tied to the illicit online bazaar Silk Road, can be freed on $1 million bond, a judge ruled.

Shrem, 24, will remain under house arrest at his parents’ home in Brooklyn, New York, with electronic monitoring, Magistrate Judge Henry Pitman said today in Manhattan federal court.

Keith Miller, a lawyer for Shrem, told the judge that his client was arrested yesterday at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he returned to New York after giving a speech about virtual currency in Amsterdam.