Cryptocurrencies: Science and Socio-Economics

Abstract

In the last few years the phenomenon of cryptocurrencies has captured the imagination of people in two dominant sectors, information technology and financial technology. These two sectors have been brought much closer due to the recent developments in both sectors. We provide an analytic view of various interconnected issues, drawing upon tenets from cryptography, digital cash, cryptocurrencies, blockchains and socio-economics of money. We discuss the underlying scientific and technical principles behind the extant methodologies, in particular the artefact Bitcoin.