Bitcoin: Opportunities and Threats for UkraineThe information technology world is constantly evolving.And Bitcoin has become one of the greatest innovations in economic decentralization since the late 20th century.Bitcoin is the first decentralized digital currency, which can be used through the Internet.Every country should decide what Bitcoin means for them: possibility or threat.First of all, Bitcoin has significant advantages for investors, companies, employers and employees, they are: solution of the problem of assets centralized nature; bilateral dealing system; it is not affected by inflation; geographic independence for transactions; transparency of bitcoin processes; comparative safety of cryptocurrency wallets; transaction fees and time level in comparison to SWIFT or SEPA; solution of the"double spending problem" of electronic currencies.The possible advantage for the country in case of bitcoin legalization is new business activity and new tax registration.It is important to notice that cryptocurrencies were created to be uncontrolled by any financial institutions.So the superfluous interference of the government can have detrimental effect on the development of this type of currency as a way of effective payment and accumulation facility.However, Bitcoin has some disadvantages: lack of awareness and understanding for society; risk and volatility caused by limited amount of coins and high demand; complexity and cost of cryptocurrency mining.The main threats of bitcoin distribution in Ukraine are: reduction of the state control over currency transactions and decrease of the importance of the existing currency circulation system in settlements between counterparties for goods delivered and services performed.Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency in the modern world, but, despite the achieved heights, it is in the phase of development and constant improvement.Considering the facts above, we can draw the following conclusion: the importance of bitcoin should not be underestimated for Ukraine with its developed shadow economy and instability in the east of the country.This can lead to the even greater share of shadow market and reduction of legalized transactions in the field of international payments.A careful study of the currency features and analysis of its advantages and disadvantages allow to conclude that it is impossible to effectively combat the expansion and development of the cryptocurrency in the world economy.Therefore, it is advisable to take it for granted and to take the process of its development under control by adopting appropriate legislative framework and establishing the main directions for its using in the national economy.
Today there exist no standardized payment solution for performing micropayments between Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This study was conducted to examine whether Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) could be suitable as a micropayment solution for IoT. Also, a more general demand for a scalable micropayment solution was examined, along with its potential. A qualitative study was performed by first conducting eight unstructured interviews regarding the subjects DLT and IoT, to be used as a complement to the literature research. Then, one unstructured and five semi-structured interviews were held to answer the research questions. The Bitcoin blockchain does not work as a micropayment solution, due to scalability issues. This study identified a positive outlook on the idea of Lightning Network, solving the scalability problems with off-chain transactions. However, since a fully functioning network is yet to be implemented, there exist uncertainties, for example regarding how decentralized it will really become. Also, issues considering the usage of DLT:s on small IoT devices arose, stemming from CPU and storage constraints. A demand of a sustainable micropayment solution was identified, possibly being a catalyst of the emergence of pay-per-use business models. Considering more powerful IoT devices, the Lightning Network could function as a micropayment solution. Such a technology is sought after, and its applicability will only increase as IoT devices evolve.
The aim of the paper is to fit a regression model which can be used commonly for the four important crypto currencies: Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Ripple to predict the prices. The data has information over the past six years regarding price, transaction volume, transaction count, exchange volume, generated coins etc of these currencies. Understanding the dynamics of crypto currency market can help to a certain extent to take wise investment decisions. Among the variables under consideration the study revealed that transaction volume can be used as an influencing variable to fit a quadratic regression model and predict the prices of the crypto currencies.
This paper provides an overview on the viability and performance of bitcoins as a payment alternative. The history of the Crypto-currency is briefly covered followed by the operation and potential technology failure. The paper then discusses consumer acceptance of bitcoins by analyzing a survey conducted by and the positive and negative observation of the results will be discussed. Fiat Currencies, Traditional E-commerce and Alt-Coin are identified as bitcoins direct competitors and a comparison done on bitcoins against its competitors. The regulatory issues and the legality of bitcoin are also discussed
Block Chain is the emerging technology in today’s world. Its main implementation is in digital currency now days but it can in applicable in every field. Main motive of Block Chain is to improve distributed database. It allows to make any kind of transaction from one node to another without using any third party and bitcoin is the implementation of the blockchain
The digital currency Bitcoin has attracted a lot of attention lately, partly because of its high volatility and rising popularity. The purpose of this study was to find out why companies have chosen to implement and accept Bitcoin as a payment method. Furthermore, investigate what costs and benefits companies experience from accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment, as well security concerns and risks related to Bitcoin. The scientific method of observation used to gather information was through qualitative research where interviews were conducted with six different companies that accepts Bitcoin as a means of payment. The study's results indicate that there are several factors that lead to companies choosing to implement Bitcoin as a payment method. It is perceived to be of high level of security as well the risks associated with Bitcoin are not perceived to be major among the respondents. The result showed that the costs of accepting Bitcoin as a means of payment are low for companies but unlike previous studies, it showed very high transaction fees for consumers.
The true innovation behind the Bitcoin protocol is blockchain technology. Blockchain is the underlying distributed database and encryption technology that enables trustless transactions that can be verified, monitored, and enforced without a central institution. This master’s report presents the core concepts behind blockchain that are concerned with carrying instructions for storage, sharing of non-financial data, including an examination of the byzantine fault tolerant cryptography model.\nA literature review describes the types of blockchains, nodes, proof of work, disadvantages, and risks and provides a survey of future applications related to state government records, such as birth certificates, automobile registrations, land deeds, and voting. This review will answer the question: Is it possible for a state government to use blockchain employing trusted nodes given that the nature of blockchain is that of a distributed network of peers accompanied by a public ledger without a central authority?\nFinally, the requirements for a specific application case study will be defined and developed. The desired application will be a smart contract to invoke a statutory durable power of attorney using blockchain technology for oneself in case of incapacitation while still living.
Open access
Cryptography and Data Security
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
The advent of Bitcoin and other forms of cryptocurrency has left a permanent mark on the world as we know it, regardless of what percentage of the populace will ever touch or comprehend cryptocurrency in its lifetime. Thanks to the advent of blockchain technology, cryptocurrency has given rise to expedited international exchanges, increased protection of consumer identity, and secured methods for logging transactions. But cryptocurrency’s nebulous nature makes it inherently vulnerable to a slew of hacks, cyberattacks, and run-of-the-mill theft. Moreover, its indeterminate qualities make cryptocurrency incredibly difficult for federal law to wrangle. But, perhaps most chillingly, the rise of cryptocurrency has given organized crime a new look, swapping society’s Kuklinskis1 and Capones2 for pseudonymous sleuths and computer-clad criminals, and underground operations for “dark web” schemes that transcend international borders at the click of a button. This Recent Development will examine how organized crime leverages cryptocurrency, and how U.S. federal law can adapt to stop it.
This paper looks at two measure of the value of Bitcoin (the price and volume traded in the last month of Bitcoin) and sees if investor attention causes any changes in the values of Bitcoin. This paper also adds exchange rates, the S&P 500, and the price of gold as other possible explanations for the value of Bitcoin. This paper examines the variables at a worldwide level and at the countries with the top 10 GDP in the world. The results of this paper find that investor attention has a significant positive relationship with the value of Bitcoin. Specifically at the country level, Russia consistently has a significant relationship with the value of Bitcoin.
Sondre Bergløff, Markus Øverli, Jacob Emil Tønnesen
Liquidity is one of the most important characteristics of an asset. While it has been studied extensively in conventional markets, little research has been done on the liquidity of bitcoin markets. We investigate determinants of liquidity in the bitcoin markets, both on an hourly and a daily basis. As a measure of liquidity, we use the bid-ask spread, calculated from high-frequency data from four different exchanges located around the world. We find that contemporaneous traded volume and volatility are positively related with the bid-ask spread. We also find that high absolute returns predict high bid-ask spread in the next period. Our findings indicate that bitcoin market makers tend to increase the bid-ask spread in more uncertain times and that higher traded volume can be interpreted as new information arriving in the market.
This paper studies the efficiency of the cryptocurrency market by looking at the distribution of bitcoin prices over time and across exchange-currency pairs. We document persistent differences in relative bitcoin prices (or discounts), with a half-life of 1 day, and a distribution which is leptokurtic, skewed to the right, with a standard deviation of 3.9%. The variability of discounts is larger in countries with tighter capital controls due to the combined effect of market segmentation and local supply and demand shocks, which we relate to location-specific mining activities and investor attention.
This research examines existence of Bitcoin bubble in the year of 2017 by studying time series data within four main paradigms of the modern bubble theory. All four models suggest that Bitcoin closing price was overstated during the period. The analysis also detects Bitcoin features that could lead to the behavioral bias on the cryptocurrency market. The study suggests that investors’ behavior on the crypto market should be investigated more within behavioral finance.
This report describes two projects created by the author which are based on ideas which originate from the Bitcoin community. The first, bmd, is a re-implementation of the Bitmessage protocol in go. Bitmessage is an anonymous and secure messaging system invented by Jonathan Warren, who was inspired by the design of Bitcoin's p2p network. [WARR1] The second is Shufflepuff, an implementation of a protocol called CoinShuffle[RUFF1] which allows several people to construct a Bitcoin transaction with an input and an output for each participant without any participant knowing who owns which output. CoinShuffle was invented by Tim Ruffing et al, and it is an upgrade of a protocol called CoinJoin, invented by Gregory Maxwell. This paper discusses the background, properties, applications, and design of bmd and Shufflepuff. There is also a report of a performance analysis on bmd.
In In recent years, new virtual currency which is born on the Internet, has attracted more and more attention. Especially represented by the bitcoin, which is decentralized and has limited amount, has become active in the global market. Digital storage, decentralization, limited amount, complete anonymity and confidentiality, all make the strong monetary attribute. However, whether bitcoin, whose nickname is gold 2.0, could complete monetary attribute, and whether it could perfect the monetary functions, need to be researched and demonstrated. In addition, the public awareness of bitcoin isn't much. They don't realize the superiority and the shortcomings of bitcoin. In this paper, we start from the introduction of bitcoin, discuss the monetary attribute in detail, and analyze the problems and challenges which bitcoin faces. At last, make a summary, and discuss the meaning and the future.
This paper intends to follow the evolution of the processing power needed to mine cryptocurrencies. Because by this year, 2018, they evolved to being over 1500 cryptos, we shell consider reviewing the first 5: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin (a hierarchy given by coinmarketcap.com. We shall closely overview the first 2: Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH – Ether).
George Allayannis, Paul Tudor Jones, Aaron Fernstrom
The case describes a hypothetical hedge fund manager who is examining whether to invest in bitcoin. The case discusses potential risks and rewards of investing in bitcoin, the role of bitcoin and digital currencies more broadly, and financial innovation in the space, such as ICOs. It can be taught as part of a second-year MBA elective course in investments, financial institutions/capital markets, or fintech.
Bitcoin is the most radical of the cryptocurrencies which are becoming popular \nnowadays. The advantage of the cryptocurrencies is that they are decentralized \nsystems so do not need central banks. The purpose of this study is to determine if \nthere is a volatility in the returns of Bitcoin and if so, whether it is predictable. \nThe volatility of the Bitcoin returns was investigated using the log-normal \nstochastic volatility model and stochastic volatility model with leverage for daily \ndata covering the period between 19.12.2011 and 29.01.2018. While there is no \nsignificant leverage effect in the Bitcoin returns, it has been revealed that the \nvolatility is permanent and unpredictable. The unpredictability of Bitcoin returns’ \nfluctuations suggests that it is risky to use it as an investment tool or currency. It \nis increasing day by day that Bitcoin takes place of banknotes or digital money, \nwhich are conventional means of payment. The more widespread the system, the \nsafer and the more resistant to speculations it is. The widespread popularity of \nBitcoin may facilitate its recognition by states and inclusion in traditional \npayment methods.
Doaa Mohey El-Din M. Hussein, Mohamed Hamed, Nour Eldeen
A Blockchain is considered the main mechanism for Bitcoin concurrency. A Blockchain is known by a public ledger and public transactions stored in a chain. The properties of blockchain demonstrate in decentralization as distribution blocks, stability, anonymity, and auditing. Blockchain can enhance the results of network efficiency and improve the security of network. It also can be applied in several fields like financial and banking services, healthcare systems, and public services. However, the research is still opening at this point. It includes a big number of technical challenges which prevents the wide application of blockchain, for example, scalability problem, privacy leakage, etc. This paper shows a proposed comprehensive study of blockchain technology. It also examines the research efforts in blockchain. It presents a proposed blockchain lifecycle which refers to an evolution and a linked ring between business process management improvement and Internet-of-Things concepts. Then, this paper presents a practical proof of this relationship for smart city. It presents a new algorithm and a proposed blockchain framework for 38 blocks (which recognized as smart-houses). Finally, the future directions are well presented in blockchain field.
Bakgrund: Satoshi Nakamoto kallas gruppen eller individen bakom kryptovalutan Bitcoin. Syftet med valutan är att kunna genomföra transaktioner snabbt, anonymt och kunna hålla tredje part, centralbanker och banker utanför. Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka och analysera svenska bankers inställning till Bitcoin. Det författarna till denna studie vill undersöka är hur bankens inställning ser ut till valutan om den blir allt mer populär att företag och privatpersoner börjar genomföra transaktioner utan inblandning med banken. Metod: För att kunna svara på syftet har studien genomförts med en abduktiv metod. Datainsamling har skett genom att intervjua relevanta personer på banker genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. I analysen förklaras sedan den datainsamlingen utifrån studiens teoretiska referensram. I syfte att få kvalificerade bedömningar om framtiden har studien använt sig av delfi-metoden. Slutsats: Författarna till studien kom fram till att Bitcoin inte utgör något hot mot bankerna eftersom de kan kopiera tekniken och bankens kärnverksamhet handlar inte bara om att genomföra transaktioner. Den underliggande tekniken till Bitcoin tillsammans med en mer legitimerad valuta (exempelvis e-krona) har en möjlighet att användas av banker i framtiden.
Digital assets can serve several functions. Some digital assets, such as Bitcoin or Litecoin, are widely regarded as decentralized stores of value or mediums of exchange due to certain common economic features that support these functions; these are sometimes referred to as “pure cryptocurrencies.” Other digital assets, such as Monero or Zcash, are a subset of pure cryptocurrencies that also possess certain features designed to enhance transaction privacy and confidentiality (“privacy-focused coins”). Beyond pure cryptocurrencies and privacy-focused coins, there exists a broad array of general purpose digital assets (“platform coins”), such as Ethereum, NEO and Ravencoin, which are designed to facilitate various peer-to-peer activity, from decentralized software applications to “smart” contracts to digital collectibles, such as CryptoKitties. Platform coins also enable the creation of new digital assets called “tokens”, which are described further herein.
The digital asset market extends beyond the assets themselves. As this industry continues to grow, it has captured the attention of retail and institutional investors alike, including asset managers seeking to develop investment strategies and products involving these emerging assets and companies. Some strategies resemble early-stage growth strategies, featuring long-term investments either directly in certain digital assets or in start-up ventures developing complementary goods and services for the industry. Other strategies include hedge fund strategies, such as long/short funds, which often use derivatives, or arbitrage strategies, which seek to capitalize on the price fragmentation across the hundreds of global online exchanges.
This chapter outlines the current U.S. regulatory framework applicable to cryptocurrency and other digital asset investment funds (“digital asset funds”) offered to U.S. investors and how those regulatory considerations affect fund structuring decisions.
Decentralized, and convertible Virtual Currency (VC) is an open-source, peer-to-peer (P2P) system that has no central administrating authority, monitoring, or oversight . It is cryptocurrency that is composed of cryptography that is extremely difficult to counterfeit . Examples are Bitcoin, or Etherum (ETH). It is traded by individuals using pseudonyms . The value of Bitcoin is not regulated by government, but by the principle of supply and demand . It has lower risk than conventional currency against regulatory systems because it does not rely on hierarchical human organization; rather, the currency focuses on “mining” computers . Regulation mandates for registration, and the licensing of the Financial Technology (FinTech) businesses operated by VCs. VC has benefits of increasing efficiency of transactions and alternatively buffering the failures of the government-issued currency, but has attracted the potential for misuse through crimes such as financing terrorists or drug dealing. Unleashing decentralized VC exposes the potential for crimes. Uniform coordination of Global Financial Regulatory Standards (GFRS) aims to maximize virtues of decentralized VC and minimize vices; however, it is vague. The project argues why decentralized VCs are security, and their virtues and vice. Next, what are regulations in the United States (U.S.) and European Community (EC). Internationally, the project reviews Basel Architecture, and Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). Also, it tests Dodd-Frank Act for regulation; and what limits of adopting GFRS. By discussing, the project aims to measure barriers of adopting FATF, or GFRS.
The emergence of Bitcoin heralded the era of crypto and digital currencies designed for use in the general economy. But are these new currencies considered money and is current Canadian law adequate to accommodate them as money? What You Need To Know Cryptocurrency denotes a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the execution of payment transactions on a decentralized network. "Money" is an element in definitions that determine the scope of a few statutes. As well, unlike property in general, money passes to a taker in good faith for value free of all adverse claims. Currency legislation in Canada does not define "money." Specific statutes may focus on national sovereign money but do not restrict the meaning of the term otherwise. The use of private currencies is legally recognized; however, whether a given cryptocurrency is money depends on whether its features meet the elements set out in case law and literature. Hence, a general recognition of cryptocurrency as money will not be appropriate. What ought to be considered is the adoption of amendments to the Currency Act, as well as other statutes, clarifying that money need not necessarily be limited to official national currencies.