The Mathematics of Bitcoin

Abstract

We survey recent results on the mathematical stability of Bitcoin protocol. Profitability and probability of a double spend are estimated in closed form with classical special functions. The stability of Bitcoin mining rules is analyzed and several theorems are proved using martingale and combinatorics techniques. In particular, the empirical observation of the stability of the Bitcoin protocol is proved. This survey article on the mathematics of Bitcoin is published by the Newsletter of the European Mathematical Society, vol.115, 2020, p.31-37. Continuation of arXiv:1601.05254 (EMS Newsletter, 100, 2016 p.32).