There is an intense technological race underway to build the highest-performance and lowest-power custom Bitcoin mining appliances using custom ASIC processors. This article describes the architecture and implementation details of CoinTerra's first-generation Bitcoin mining processor, Goldstrike 1, and how this processor is used to design a complete Bitcoin mining machine called Terraminer IV. Because of high power density in the Bitcoin mining processor, delivering power and cooling the die posed enormous challenges. This article describes some of the solutions adopted to overcome these challenges.
Banks and other financial institutions have evolved along with e-commerce by enabling unfamiliar parties to transact around the globe with little to no risk. This service does not come without a price. Bitcoin was established as a more efficient way to securely transact online, removing the need for third-party financial institutions. The purpose of this Note is to highlight the potential of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange, making Internet transactions more flexible and affordable to all. The author analyzes Bitcoin’s current price volatility, highlighting a trend of Bitcoin-backed investments, and argues against any government action in support of these purely speculative and short-sited investment schemes. This Note expounds upon the major obstacles facing Bitcoin’s acceptance by mainstream commercial marketplaces. Most importantly, the author looks at future government intervention, and argues against any direct legislation on the Bitcoin system in order to allow for its growth and development.
The ability to assess the reputation of a member in a web community is a need addressed in many different ways according to the many different stages in which the nature of communities has evolved over time. In the case of reputation of goods/services suppliers, the solutions available to prevent the feedback abuse are generally reliable but centralized under the control of few big Internet companies. In this paper we show how a decentralized and distributed feedback management system can be built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain
Bitcoins have recently become an increasingly popular cryptocurrency through which users trade electronically and more anonymously than via traditional electronic transfers. Bitcoin's design keeps all transactions in a public ledger. The sender and receiver for each transaction are identified only by cryptographic public-key ids. This leads to a common misconception that it inherently provides anonymous use. While Bitcoin's presumed anonymity offers new avenues for commerce, several recent studies raise user-privacy concerns. We explore the level of anonymity in the Bitcoin system. Our approach is two-fold: (i) We annotate the public transaction graph by linking bitcoin public keys to "real" people - either definitively or statistically. (ii) We run the annotated graph through our graph-analysis framework to find and summarize activity of both known and unknown users.
The creation of bitcoin heralded the arrival of digital or crypto-currency and has been regarded as a phenomenon. Since its introduction, it has experienced a meteoric rise in price and rapid growth accompanied by huge volatility swings, and also attracted plenty of controversies which even involved law enforcement agencies. Hence, claims abound that bitcoin has been characterized by bubbles ready to burst any time (e.g. the recent collapse of bitcoin’s biggest exchange, Mt Gox). This has earned plenty of coverage in the media but surprisingly not in the academic literature. We therefore fill this knowledge gap. We conduct an econometric investigation of the existence of bubbles in the bitcoin market based on a recently developed technique that is robust in detecting bubbles – that of Phillips et al. (2013a). Over the period 2010–2014, we detected a number of short-lived bubbles; most importantly, we found three huge bubbles in the latter part of the period 2011–2013 lasting from 66 to 106 days, with the last and biggest one being the one that ‘broke the camel’s back’ – the demise of the Mt Gox exchange.
The appearance of bitcoin is the beginning of a new era in which advanced technological capabili- ties have changed the perspective on the financial system's functioning rules and have expanded the understanding of the category of money. Bitcoin is used in commercial transactions, transfers and as an investment asset. The establishment of bitcoin is a part of the movement away from cash transactions and the general acceptance of non-material form of money observed around the world. The aim of the study is to analyse the bitcoin cryptocurrency in the scope of the fulfilment of the definition criteria and functions of money formulated in an economic theory, and to present the current legal situation in selected countries relating with its functioning.
Bitcoin, new digital money, recently got into focus. It uses P2P interaction where each owner transfers the electronic coin to the next owner signing and adding to the end of the coin a hash of the previous transaction and the public key of the next owner. Payment verification is accomplished by notifying the entire network about the transaction. This prevents double-spending and avoids the generation of nonexistent money. Personal information between parties in the transaction are not transferred. Unlike completely anonymous transaction, the
Die digitale Wahrung Bitcoin hat seit ihrer Einfuhrung im Jahre 2008 bestandig an Bekanntheit gewonnen. Die Grundidee und das Konzept von Bitcoin beruhen auf einer Etablierung als alternative, entmaterialisierte, dezentrale Wahrung zu bestehenden zentralen Finanzsystemen. Bitcoin lasst sich weltweit, von jeder Person uneingeschrankt nutzen, ohne Prufung der Legitimitat durch z.B. Unternehmen oder staatliche Institutionen. Diese Arbeit beschaftig sich unter anderem mit den Fragen was Bitcoin eigentlich ist, wie es funktioniert und welche Moglichkeiten es im Vergleich zu staatlichen Wahrungen sowie Online-Bezahlsystemen eroffnet. Dazu werden am Anfang der Arbeit die Begriffe Geld und Wahrung definiert und ihnen generelle Eigenschaften zugewiesen. Darauf folgend werden die allgemeinen Eigenschaften von Online-Bezahlsystemen dargestellt, als auch anhand des Beispiels von PayPal. Anschliesend erfolgt eine umfassende Darstellung der vielfaltigen Teilbereiche des Bitcoin Systems. Hierbei werden Begriffe wie Blocke, Blockchain, Adressen und Mining erlautert sowie dargestellt wo und wie man Bitcoins erwerben kann. Einen grosen Bestandteil der Arbeit machen die Kapitel der Gegenuberstellung der rechtlichen sowie okonomischen Eigenschaften von Wahrungen aus. Dabei lies sich feststellen, dass es schwierig ist, Bitcoin in die traditionelle Gesetzgebung einzubetten um es den Status einer anerkannten Wahrung zu erteilen. Unter okonomischen Gesichtspunkten besitzt Bitcoin schon viele Eigenschaften die staatlichen Wahrungen kennzeichnen. Des Weiteren werden die Eigenschaften von Online Bezahlsystemen mit denen des Bitcoin Systems verglichen. Den Abschluss der Arbeit bilden eine Zusammenfassung sowie ein personlicher Ausblick des Autors der sich zuversichtlich auf den zukunftigen Wandel von Bitcoin als potenzielles Investitionsgut hin zu der Rolle als seriose, einfache, alltagstaugliche Wahrung und Bezahlsystem darstellen. Ergebnis der Arbeit ist, dass aus okonomischer Sichtweise Bitcoin alle Eigenschaften einer Wahrung erfullt werden, die aber durch die bisherige Rechtsprechung keine Gultigkeit besitzen. Durch den stetig wachsenden Bekanntheitsgrad von Bitcoin ist davon auszugehen, dass die Nachfrage und somit auch der Wert weiter steigen.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are getting into common usage more and more frequently. Unfortunately this spread is connected with attempts to misuse their principles for personal benefit. The goal of this thesis is to explain the main principles of using bitcoin in relation to the internet identity. This connection is represented by two sources in the thesis: the first is a bitcoin blockchain, the second is the sum of various user profiles used in discussion forums and similar websites. The aim is to create and explain the process how to, by using the combination of this two sources, reveal the identity of a human using cryptocurrencies for payment (from a private person point of view). First, methods used for extraction of correct and useful data from the blockchain and internet profiles must be developed to be able to mine data from the joint database, merging into a full user profile containing personal data. Results of this investigation are extended by the rules of preserving anonymity on the internet, containing both technological and behavioural measures avoiding a share of personal data. The end of this thesis explains possible attack vectors that might be used for compromising cryptocurrencies. The methods of searching of the internet identity are a useful tool for facing these attacks.
The main goal of this diploma thesis is to explore the area of virtual currency Bitcoin and assess the use of this currency in today's economy. Thesis first mentions the cryptocurrency market, the technology and other altcoins. It further analyzes the cryptocurrency Bitcoin in detail, its foundation, history and mining. The text also explores the volatility of this currency in the recent years, the question of regulation by states and technological threats to the network. In the final chapter diploma thesis examines the possibilities for individuals to obtain this currency and the use of Bitcoin by enterprises.
IC card with its high security,portability and other virtues has become a most widely used payment tool in the financial field.In order to cope with increasingly wide application of the Bitcoin,this research designs Bitcoin payment system based on the IC card in order to improves its safety and convenience.The master key encryption is used to indirectly encrypt password and account private key,avoiding using simple password to cause the reduced safety of private key encryption.Using hierarchical deterministic address will enhance the anonymity of the IC card account.The uniquely determined transaction signature random number scheme based on the key and message will achieve Bitcoin private key secure storage based on IC card and secure payment of Bitcoin transactions.
US exchanges' adoption of blockchain software, used by the original crytocurrency, to facilitate and track trades could enhance speed and transparency in the securities market
In : "D’autres monnaies pour une nouvelle prospérité : rapport remis à Carole Delga, Secrétaire d’État chargée du commerce, de l’artisanat, de la consommation et de l’économie sociale et solidaire le 8 avril 2015", Magnen J.-P., Fourel, C. eds.
Tehniskās attīstības rezultātā mums ir iespēja izvēlēties izdevīgākus, ērtākus un drošākus norēķinu veidus. Tomēr esošais normatīvais regulējums nespēj aptvert visus jaunus institūtus. Līdz ar to daudzās jomās, tostarp nodokļu, rodas neskaidrības par tiesību normu piemērošanu.\nSamērā jauna virtuālā valūta bitcoin var tikt izmantota darījumos kā maksāšanas līdzeklis. Tā nodrošina iespēju veikt transakcijas ātri un izdevīgi, vienlaicīgi pasargājot savas sistēmas lietotājus no konfidenciālās informācijas izpaušanas trešajām personām. Diemžēl ES līmeni nav specifiska regulējuma attiecībā uz virtuālajām valūtām. Tajā pašā laikā bitcoin tiesiskais statuss ir izšķirošs PVN piemērošanā darījumiem, kur tie ir izvēlēti par maksāšanas līdzekli.\nAutors analizēja gan esošu ES regulējumu PVN un finanšu tirgus jomā, gan 20 ES dalībvalstu oficiālo nostāju, gan doktrīnā paustas atziņās par virtuālo valūtu. Tādā veidā tika iegūts pilns priekšstats par bitcoin tiesisko statusu. Analīzes rezultāti ļāva izdarīt pamatotus secinājumus par esošā regulējuma piemērošanas iespējam un par nepieciešamību pēc jauna regulējuma ES līmenī.
The English version of this paper can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2709713 Italian Abstract: La tecnologia fondamentale del protocollo Bitcoin, conosciuta come blockchain, è emersa recentemente in tutta la sua straordinaria portata innovativa, teoricamente in grado di riconfigurare le nostre attuali interazioni economiche, politiche e sociali. Sebbene l'interesse accademico per questa tecnologia sia ormai crescente, finora non è stata ancora divulgata un'analisi esaustiva delle sue applicazioni dal punto di vista politologico. Questa ricerca si propone di discutere i punti essenziali di una governance decentralizzata fondata sulla blockchain, che sfida in varia misura i meccanismi tradizionali della autorità statale, della cittadinanza e della democrazia. In particolare, la ricerca si pone l'obiettivo di verificare la performance della blockchain e delle piattaforme decentralizzate come strumenti iperpolitici, in grado cioè di gestire interazioni sociali su ampia scala e di destituire eventualmente le autorità centrali tradizionali. L'analisi evidenzia i rischi relativi a posizioni dominanti di natura privatistica negli ecosistemi distribuiti, che potrebbero spogliare i cittadini dei loro diritti e permettere l'insorgere di una società globale senza stato. Se gli utopisti tecnologici sollecitano la destituzione di qualsiasi autorità centrale, questa ricerca difende invece il ruolo dello Stato come necessario punto di coordinazione nella società civile e dimostra come la decentralizzazione attuata attraverso algoritmi e sistemi di consenso distribuito costituisca una teoria organizzativa, non una teoria politica autonoma. English Abstract: The core technology of Bitcoin, the blockchain, has recently emerged as a disruptive innovation with a wide range of applications, potentially able to redesign our interactions in business, politics and society at large. Although scholarly interest in this subject is growing, a comprehensive analysis of blockchain applications from a political perspective is severely lacking to date. This paper aims to fill this gap and it discusses the key points of blockchain-based decentralized governance, which challenges to varying degrees the traditional mechanisms of State authority, citizenship and democracy. In particular, the paper verifies to which extent blockchain and decentralized platforms can be considered as hyper-political tools, capable to manage social interactions on large scale and dismiss traditional central authorities. The analysis highlights risks related to a dominant position of private powers in distributed ecosystems, which may lead to a general disempowerment of citizens and to the emergence of a stateless global society. While technological utopians urge the demise of any centralized institution, this paper advocates the role of the State as a necessary central point of coordination in society, showing that decentralization through algorithm-based consensus is an organizational theory, not a stand-alone political theory.
Bitcoin is a virtual currency based on the P2P network. Because of decentralization, anonymity, stability and other advantages, Bitcoin develops rapidly. In order to cope with increasingly wide application fields of bitcoin, this research designs bitcoin's payment based on the IC card, which improves its safety and convenience. According to Bitcoin's unique utilization, we've designed and achieved the documental structure of Bitcoin IC card and mutual authentication between PSAM card and IC card. With the combination of IC card private key and user's private key leading to account's private key, it will be safer to private key. Besides using merge-avoidance algorithm when trading improves the security of the account.
Oppgaven analyserer noen sentrale skatterettslige sider ved bruk av BitCoin etter norsk rett. Problemstillingene vil også ha relevans for andre kryptovalutaer såfremt de fungerer på samme måte.