5 November 2013 CRA Press Release "What you should know about digital currency"

Digital currency is virtual money that can be used to buy and sell goods or services on the Internet. Bitcoins are an example of digital currency. …

Digital currency can also be bought or sold like a commodity. … Paragraphs 9 to 32 of Interpretation Bulletin IT-479R, Transactions in Securities, provide information that can help in determining whether transactions are income or capital in nature.

Where digital currency is used to pay for goods or services, the rules for barter transactions apply. …For example, paying for movies with digital currency is a barter transaction. The value of the movies purchased using digital currency must be included in the seller's income for tax purposes. The amount to be included would be the value of the movies in Canadian dollars. [See] IT-490, Barter Transactions.