Economic Issues in Bitcoin Mining and Blockchain Research

Abstract

With the development of the blockchain technology, Bitcoin mining has become more and more popular. This paper aims to provide a three-level framework of the economic issues in Bitcoin mining research, from the levels of mining pools, individual miners and blockchain network. We also offer an overview of relevant research efforts in literature. Considering the uncertainty, diversity and complexity of the Bitcoin ecosystems, we propose a novel research framework based on the ACP theory, which can be used to explore the economic issues in the Bitcoin ecosystems. This paper aims to provide a preliminary investigation to the economic issues faced by participants in the Bitcoin ecosystems, and stimulate the attentions and interests of researchers in this field.