A Study of Double-spending Causes and Countermeasures in Bitcoin Network

Abstract

Bitcoin is a popular cryptocurrency based on a decentralized, tamper-resistant, and append-only ledger called blockchain, which researchers and industry have widely adopted. The security of Bitcoin heavily depends on a proof-of-work incentives-based consensus protocol. However, this protocol and its structure have some vulnerabilities. A double-spending attack is the most prominent and common threat to the Bitcoin protocol. The goal of this survey is to understand the various causes of and countermeasures to prevent a double-spending attack. In this paper, we present a state-of-the-art double-spending attack survey on the Bitcoin network. We emphasize the gap associated with the blockchain protocol, its delay-causing factors, and protocol features exploited to double-spend Bitcoins. We study both theoretical and experimental work published in recent years. Finally, we discuss existing countermeasures and a few open issues in identifying and tackling a double-spending attack in the Bitcoin network. Our results can help Bitcoin users determine a trade-off between the risk of double-spending attempts and transaction confirmation delay.