Blockchain Papers

Sergio Fogel

No abstract is available for this record.

Chris LeRoux

In On the Origins of Money (1892), Carl Menger explains that in a barter situation, some commodities are more commonly demanded than others, are more saleable. In order to overcome the double coincidence of wants, people naturally begin trading their goods first for a more saleable good in order to then trade for their final objective. Menger (1892) describes it thus, «Men have been led, with increasing knowledge of their individual interests, each by his own economic interests, without convention, without legal compulsion, nay, even without any regard to the common interest, to exchange goods destined for exchange (their “wares”) for other goods equally destined for exchange, but more saleable.» Lud-wig von Mises restated the same insight in Human Action (1940), «[Money] is the most marketable good which people acquire be-cause they want to offer it in later acts of interpersonal exchange. Money is the thing which serves as the generally accepted and commonly used medium of exchange.»
 As ever more people discovered the advantages of using a more saleable good in indirect exchange, one commodity became increasingly adopted until it eventually became money, the most marketable of all goods, the good that can generally be traded for all other goods within the market. As Menger said (1892), «And so it has come to pass, that as man became increasingly conversant with these economic advantages… those commodities, which relatively to both space and time are most saleable, have in every market become the wares, which it is not only in the interest of every one to accept in exchange for his own less saleable goods, but which also are those he actually does readily accept.»

Olof Vestling

I dagens samhälle används en mängd metoder och verktyg för att nå kunder och eftersom konkurrensen är knivskarp är det extra viktigt att skapa personliga relationer till sina kunder. Syftet med denna uppsats är att studera bitcoin, en virtuell valuta, som ett verktyg för att skapa, underhålla och fördjupa dessa relationer. Bitcoin accepteras idag som betalningsmedel av en mängd olika företag och det är därför intressant att undersöka varför de gör detta. Genom att utföra en enkätstudie och intervjuer kan det konstateras att användningen av bitcoin bland företag har ökat stadigt det senaste halvåret. Det visar sig också att företagen använder sig av bitcoin som marknadsföringsverktyg på två olika sätt; dels som ett betalningsalternativ inom traditionell butikshandel men också som en belöning inom ett lojalitetsprogram. Det kan konstateras att företagen använt bitcoin som ett verktyg för att komma i kontakt med nya kunder och för att utmärka sig inom sin bransch. Dock använder företagen inte bitcoin som ett verktyg för att bygga långvariga relationer. Därför är slutsatsen att bitcoin inte används på ett relationsmarknadsföringsmässigt sätt och således inte heller leder till några förstärkta kundrelationer.

Maria Letizia Perugini

Los motivos históricos y económicos que han llevado a programar el protocolo Bitcoin se encuentran en la actualidad con una interesante fase evolutiva de los algoritmos de encriptación para la identificación de datos y la transmisión de derechos, tratándose de un sistema que presenta aspectos jurídicos dignos de mención.

Lucie Leopoldová

The main objective of this diploma thesis is to find out the potential of digital currencies to replace contemporary fiat currency. Specifically, the thesis is focused on cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which currently has the highest market value. The thesis is divided into three main chapters. The first one focuses on money itself and its function, not only today but also throughout the history. Second chapter explains substance and functioning of Bitcoin, as well as its role in the current monetary system. Likewise the question of regulatory measures and competition of altcoins is being examined. Final part analyses the future of digital currencies and it compares pros and cons of Bitcoin and money we use today. Furthermore, it is discussed whether Bitcoin is the next bubble in the financial market. In the end, main problems which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies deal with are mentioned and a possible future development is outlined.

Valentina Amenta

No abstract is available for this record.

Daniel Stahr

No abstract is available for this record.

Emil Elgebrant

Bitcoins introducerades for ganska exakt 5 ar sedan har fler och fler foretag utanfor den traditionella banksektorn borjat erbjuda vaxlingstjanster av Bitcoins. Den internationella omsattningen ber ...

Raghavi Viswanath

No abstract is available for this record.

Igor Leturia Azkarate

No abstract is available for this record.

Simona Bol, Ajla Ceric

Bakgrund: Riksbanken har haft sedelmonopol sedan 1897, vilket har inneburit att de sedan dess har haft ensamrätt att ge ut pengar. Den teknologiska utvecklingen och den ökade användningen av internet har lett till att virtuella samfund har utvecklats och i vissa fall har dessa samhällen skapat sin egen valuta. Bitcoin är världens första helt decentraliserade valuta och baserades i början av sin existens på teknisk nyfikenhet för en handfull hobbyister. Under de senaste åren har efterfrågan på bitcoins ökat vilket i sin tur har lett till att kursen stigit explosivartat.Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att kartlägga och analysera de transaktionskostnader som kan uppstå när Bitcoin används som betalningsmedel, samt jämföra dessa kostnader med de transaktionskostnader som är förenade med användandet av traditionella betalningsmedel. Genomförande: Studien har genomförts genom en blandning av ett kvalitativt och ett kvantitativt tillvägagångssätt samt genom en bearbetning av transaktionskostnadsteorin inom ramen för ny institutionell teori. Empirin består av tre delar där studien inleds med en litteraturstudie för att läsaren ska få en inblick i vad Bitcoin är och hur valutan fungerar. Därefter presenteras det kvalitativa angreppssättet i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer och avslutningsvis presenteras studiens kvantitativa angreppsätt i form av en enkätstudie för att kartlägga användandet av bitcoin.Slutsats: Studien visar att transaktionskostnaderna för Bitcoin är högre än för traditionella betalningsmedel i och med att valutan i dagsläget är beroende av den traditionella infrastrukturen för betalningar samt att dess användare därutöver frånsäger sig det skyddsnät som traditionella betalningsmedel omfattas av. För att Bitcoin ska bli ett etablerat betalningsmedel krävs det att de grundläggande funktionerna för pengar uppfylls. Något som studien visar är bristfälligt i nuläge

Tomáš Šembera

The bachelor thesis deals with potential of digital currency Bitcoin to become universally accepted medium of exchange and with advantages, which its usage would bring to economy. In the thesis there are analysed factors important for its future progression. There are identified both positive and negative factors. Among the positive ones there is pseudonymity, low transaction costs, protection against government actions and inovative potential in the field of financial services. Among the negative ones there is the question of the system security, network effect, the risk of government against Bitcoin itself and high volatility. Volatility of bitcoin valu is identified as the major disadvantage of the currency. Next part of theoretical part deals with the confusion about virtual currencies and regression theorem. Logical analysis suggests that this confusion is caused by wrong interpretation of regression theorem, which is mostly caused by improper understanding of the term direct use. In the next part, Bitcoin is analysed from the view of the Austrian business cycle theory. Because of the inability of performing credit expansion, Bitcoin is identified as currency significantly limiting the strenght of business cycles. Practical part analysis the developement of volatility in time and its dependence on events and spekulative demand. The hypothesis, that high volatility of bitcoin value is caused by immaturity of the technology is not confirmed.

Zhao Yan-don

Bitcoin has recently got broad interest due to its continuous appreciation. This paper presents that Bitcoin is far enough to affect the status of the RMB based on the analysis of Bitcoin's credit rating and trading patterns. Bitcoin will neither change the number of the RMB nor impact China's financial system,but Bitcoin needs to be guarded against the risk of investment.

Scott A. Burns

Since emerging on the scene in 2009, the digital currency bitcoin has sparked an intense debate online and in the financial presses about its relative virtues and vices as well as its implications for the future of money. In this paper, I examine whether it is likely that bitcoin will emerge as money, i.e. a generally accepted medium of exchange. I outline its unique attributes and defects to explain both its surprising popularity and its limited prospects for attaining the status of money. I conclude that, although the odds of bitcoin itself ever becoming money are slim, the innovations that its unique programming protocol unleashes could potentially have profound and far-reaching implications for monetary institutions, particularly in nations with corrupt and poorly managed money.

Ondřej Vít

This work presents an economic analysis of virtual currency and a system of payment known as Bitcoin. From many goals of this work, the main is to answer a question, whether the Bitcoins are to cause revolution at financial markets. To solve this I applied theoretical knowledge of Austrian school on the Bitcoin currency. Given this facts it has turned out, that the nature of Bitcoin truly is revolutionary. However, it would be wrong to assume, that the Bitcoins are to actually spark significant changes in current monetary system. For a better understanding of all circumstances, the development of an exchange and the evolution of money was involved in this work. From an economical perspective, it is obvious, that the Bitcoins certainly are a new kind of currency that flows beside money but also cannot replace it. It is the specificity of the system what creates barriers preventing Bitcoins from becoming more widespread and used more often. The benefits of this thesis lie in a complex economic analysis of Bitcoin currency and a prediction of its future development.

Lucie Leopoldová

The main objective of this diploma thesis is to find out the potential of digital currencies to replace contemporary fiat currency. Specifically, the thesis is focused on cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which currently has the highest market value. The thesis is divided into three main chapters. The first one focuses on money itself and its function, not only today but also throughout the history. Second chapter explains substance and functioning of Bitcoin, as well as its role in the current monetary system. Likewise the question of regulatory measures and competition of altcoins is being examined. Final part analyses the future of digital currencies and it compares pros and cons of Bitcoin and money we use today. Furthermore, it is discussed whether Bitcoin is the next bubble in the financial market. In the end, main problems which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies deal with are mentioned and a possible future development is outlined.

Nishu Choudhary, Saibal K. Pal

Bitcoin has recently gained popularity as a peer-to-peer decentralized electronic currency system. It was designed to provide all the desirable properties of electronic cash. One of the desirable properties of Bitcoin is that it does not depend on a central authority like a bank or the government. This paper introduces Bitcoin and its characteristics together with its core components–block, block chain and transaction. Mechanisms for ensuring privacy and security in Bitcoin are also presented. Primitives like hash functions and digital signatures play important roles in providing cryptographic functionalities for Bitcoin. SHA-256 is used to prevent malicious parties from stealing and creating coins. Specific characteristics of this hash function and its suitability for bitcoin would be analyzed. The elliptic Curve digital signature Algorithm (ECDSA) is used for confirming identity of payer and validating truncation. Properties of the Elliptic curve used in ECDSA and the signature algorithm would also be technically analyzed together with their role in protecting the electronic currency for the next few decades.

P. Carl Mullan

Introduction 1. What Is Digital Currency? 2. Who Uses Digital Currency? 3. Digital Gold Currency 4. E-gold 5. Digital Currency Growth 6. Regulatory History 7. Follow the Money 8. Money Service Business 9. Prepaid Access 10. WebMoney Transfer 11. Loom 12. Bitcoin Decentralized Virtual Currency 13. Early Bitcoin 14. Bitcoin Mining 15. Bitcoin Differences 16. Benefits and Advantages 17. Disadvantages and Barriers 18. FIN-2013-G001 19. Global Bitcoin 20. Bitcoin Challenges 21. Bitcoin Merchant Services 22. Bitcoin Opportunity 23. The Future

Nancy Neslund

This paper will explore the recent development of digital (aka virtual or crypto-) currencies—currencies which are creatures of the Internet, have no issuing or governing body, are self-authenticating, and can be used worldwide by members of the general public to engage in the same types of direct, one-to-one transactions that daily occur using government-issued currencies

Philip Dotemoto

This project attempts to implement an open source FPGA based Bitcoin miner on an Altera DE2-115 development board. Bitcoin is an experimental peer-to-peer digital currency based on public key cryptography. The advantages of Bitcoins are that they can be transferred between any two people anywhere in the world, and they do not have the same fees and lack of control associated with traditional methods of currency transfers. The first part of this project focuses on detailing how the Bitcoin network and open source miner work. The second part of the project attempts to improve the performance of the open source miner, but a lack of resources on the Cyclone IV EP4CE115F29C7 ultimately prevented implementing a dual pipelined design.

Dominik Škoda

This thesis aims to completely map the problem of new forms of money, called cryptocurrency. It explains the economic principles of functioning these decentralized currencies, particularly emitting (the mining), amount of fees and functioning of the payment system. The work is focused on the currency Bitcoin, for which it describes in detail its origin and development, possibility of simultaneous use (in many examples) as well as possible future scenarios of these currencies. In conclusion, the work describes role of Bitcoin in the current banking system and risks of the Bitcoin.

Neus Llansola Ordaz

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka Bitcoins egenskaper och funktioner samt diskutera dess eventuella påverkan på dagens ekonomiska system. Den forskning som publicerats på ämnet undersöker främst tekniska och säkerhetsmässiga detaljer, det är därför intressant att analysera ur en ekonomisk synvinkel. Genom att använda makroekonomisk teori ska jag försöka klargöra om Bitcoin kan konkurrera med dagens valutor. Bitcoins volatilitet i värde gör det tvivelaktigt, en volatilitet som inte kan kontrolleras. Bitcoin uppfyller delar av de funktioner och egenskaper som definierar en valuta enligt makroekonomisk teori, men inte lika många som fiatpengar och Bitcoin bör därför inte kunna konkurrera med dagens valutor. Fiatpengar är att föredra även i andra områden som acceptans och säkerhet. Bitcoin är bättre ur ett kostnadsperspektiv, dock under specifika omständigheter som sällan uppfylls. Bitcoin kommer därför tills vidare fungera som ett alternativ betalningssystem och valuta för personer och företag som är villiga att ta de risker som medföljer.

Christian H Kateraas

Collect and analyse threat models to the Bitcoin ecosystem and its software. The create misuse case, attack trees, and sequence diagrams of the threats. Create a malicious client from the gathered threat models. Once the development of the client is complete, test the client and evaluate its performance. From this, assess the security of the Bitcoin software.

J. Wilson Harper

No abstract is available for this record.