No, this isn't a black-market deal brokered in the Internet's shadowy corners. The child was born thanks to a frozen embryo transfer cycle paid for with bitcoins. Lee says it's the first time he's aware of that anyone has paid for fertility treatments that way.

 

The baby is the biggest -- and definitely the cutest -- victory yet for Lee in his campaign to persuade his patients to pay him for his services with bitcoins, the experimental digital currency that caught Wall Street's attention recently when its trading price shot up.

There are 11 million bitcoins in circulation right now with a collective "market value" of around $1.4 billion. You can spend bitcoins online at shops like BitcoinStore.com, but they're not exactly a mainstream currency for everyday transactions.

Lee would love to change that. He's an early pioneer in the Bitcoin retail economy, and a sign on his clinic door advertises his accepted forms of electronic payment: Visa (V, Fortune 500), MasterCard (MA, Fortune 500) or Bitcoin.

The sign alone hasn't generated any business, Lee admits.