Since its initial inception, cryptocurrency has hit the world with both intrigue and skepticism. It was acting as an alternative form of currency that people could use that required no regulative authority to back it. As such, people had the option to make purchases in anonymous manners, leading to what most would consider unethical behaviours, and ultimately resulted in cryptocurrency gaining a poor reputation. However, specific trends in society have helped cryptocurrency growth to continue. A societal loss of trust in the traditional banking system and the positive perception towards the blockchain technology, which is a peer-to-peer system that cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, operate on are two such trends. Furthermore, recent years have witnessed exponential increases in the prices of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. This has led to widespread stories of people getting rich through cryptocurrency ownership, having been âwise-enoughâ to buy in on the cryptocurrency trend early enough to reap in the rewards of such as decision. And as a result, leading to more people wanting to be the next big success story and buying in on the cryptocurrency trend. This growing trend has also gained the attention of several multi-national companies, such as Expedia, Subway and Microsoft, who have begun accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment. Even though specific cases have seen this strategy implemented successfully, the volatility of cryptocurrency still poses a risk that has hindered the ability of cryptocurrency to become a widespread payment option. Given the current trend surrounding cryptocurrency, this thesis serves the purpose is to investigate another alternative option for cryptocurrency use. That option being the potential for cryptocurrency to be used as an alternative payment option in the online gambling industry. Where it has been used as a payment option in other areas, it would be interesting to identify whether there is potential for the cryptocurrency to be adopted and used in this particular industry as well. In order to investigate this phenomenon from both the consumer and industry point-of-views, this thesis used a mixed-methods study, which consisted of a qualitative study and quantitative study. Our qualitative study focused on the industry side of the phenomena. To carry it out, we conducted a series of semi-structured interviews with managers of a large online gambling company in order to gain deeper knowledge on their perspectives regarding their perceptions towards how cryptocurrency adoption would affect the online gambling industry. Based on the information gained from the interviews, specific themes were identified and further analyzed through a thematic analysis. Those themes included blockchain in online gambling, holding cryptocurrency, regulation and the reputation of cryptocurrency. Our results indicated that managers did not believe the industry was ready to adopt cryptocurrency due to specific regulatory factors, but that it had future potential, mainly regarding its association to blockchain. Our quantitative study focused on interpreting the perceptions of online gamblers regarding cryptocurrency use in online gambling. Specifically, identifying what would motivate them to use cryptocurrency in online gambling and if they were willing to accept it as a payment option. Based on the results obtained through a survey we distributed, we used linear regression to identify if online gamblers were willing to accept cryptocurrency. The resulting outcome was a moderate level of rejection towards cryptocurrency acceptance. The linear regression model also allowed us to interpret which predictor variables held the greatest level of importance towards predicting cryptocurrency acceptance. Those specific variables included cryptocurrency anonymity, usability, ownership, and belief in the future of cryptocurrency. When comparing the results from both studies through triangulation, we were able to conclude that both consumers and the industry were not ready to fully accept cryptocurrency usage in online gambling. However, both sides indicated positive outlooks towards its future potential as a payment method.
This work conceptualizes a process for cryptocurrency to diversify traditional methods of higher education funding in the United States. Higher education funding has seemingly reached an impasse, and opinions remain divided over both which societal parties should bear the educational costs for the vast majority of Americans and how to remedy the student debt crisis. Cryptocurrency funding augments traditional revenue streams, and shifts the discussion of education costs from expenses to a more robust conversation about innovative avenues to wealth generation as a potential solution to fund the mission of American higher education. Historically, higher education has been rooted in scarcity frameworks and a type of zero-sum proposition for funding allocation, and this conceptual paper acknowledges the the central concerns of higher education funding and explores these arguments as legacy discourses rooted in career preparation, accessibility and affordability, and arguments about the need for a broad-based education versus more technical skills training. Further, an alternative model to current higher education funding models is presented to embrace technological, disruptive wealth generation based on cryptocurrency to deploy this asset class to serve education needs by funding research, students, and the academy through an illustrated conceptual framework for funding. implementation.
The Department of Justice recently prosecuted a teenager from Manassas, Virginia, for attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. The Department revealed that the teen had posted instructions on social media explaining how to use the cryptocurrency Bitcoin to support terrorist operations. United States law enforcement and intelligence organizations are increasingly concerned, and rightfully so, with how they are going to address the growing problems presented by terrorist and criminal use of cryptocurrency to launder money and otherwise support illicit operations. These organizations are specifically troubled by how difficult it is to monitor cryptocurrency systems, which largely stems from the fact that many cryptocurrencies are constructed on Block Chain technology. Block Chain technology, in the context of cryptocurrency, is a Distributed Ledger System that stores data in registers among many different computer systems using cryptography as a complimentary security protocol. The transfer of cryptocurrency using this decentralized system does not require an intermediary, such a bank or other financial institution, which increases its potential application for financing of illicit activities. These unique aspects of this game-changing technology make it very difficult for investigators to gather the information they need under the current law. Regulations and policy guidance built on the old authorities have left new companies fumbling through the dark, trying to abide by vague, strict, unfair, unforgiving, and expensive regulatory recordkeeping and reporting regimes. The outdated law that federal agencies depend upon for their authority not only ties their hands from coming up with new and innovative ways to address the obstacles posed by this new technology but also negatively affects the technology industry itself by stifling innovation. This paper asserts that new and inventive legislation, not just revised regulation, is required to address this crucial area of concern for national security while also balancing the importance of fostering and encouraging innovation in this groundbreaking technology. This paper recommends that Congress legislate now to create a collaborative environment where private entities are incentivized to voluntarily share information with federal agencies in order to address this growing concern. The legislation should solidify, in law, protections and immunities for the private entities that participate while also establishing a realistic but attractive incentive structure. This sort of legislation is not a wholly new concept, as Congress has successfully passed similar legislation in the past to create an information-sharing environment for the various cyber threats postured to damage the government and private industry equally. Ultimately, Congress should choose to reinvigorate the forward-thinking provisions found in the Cybersecurity Act of 2015 by particularizing its information-sharing scheme to cryptocurrency specific financial information and restructuring the Actâs immunity and incentives schemes. This will provide the industry with the flexibility it needs to grow and develop while providing law enforcement the information it requires to protect the security and the people of the United States.
The old school -which consists largely of middle-aged and elderly men- tend to claim that bitcoin is a "bubble", and seize on every downturn in the price of bitcoin as evidence that the bubble has burst or is about to burst. The bubble only gets fatter, and all of the anti-crypto arguments -notably the argument that currencies need themselves to possess, or to be based on something with "intrinsic" value, and cryptocurrencies lack intrinsic value- are fallacious. Here we propose that there are deep mathematical reasons why the conservatives are mistaken, and why cryptocurrencies will increasingly replace their traditional counterparts.
Bitcoin has become a mainstream in the financial world. It has several similarities with Gold as low correlation with stocks, inflation hedge, government decentralization and the no currency attachment. Therefore, the name of the new âDigital Goldâ. This study compares Gold and Bitcoin, offered as an alternatives financial assets. Thus, there are two research questions. First, if Bitcoin helps to reduce risk within a well-diversified equity portfolio, represented by the S&P 500. Second, if Bitcoin improves risk-return relation. Both questions are compared with Gold. Hence, two the financial approaches are the Minimum Portfolio Variance and the Tangency Portfolio. In order to have a solid base, this study evaluates in-sample and out-sample portfolios of rolling windows for 3, 6 and 12 months horizons. The results of the first question suggest that even the correlation coefficients are extremely low, they are not enough to mitigate risk because of Bitcoin high volatility. The in-sample and out-sample analysis demonstrate Bitcoin does not help to reduce risk in an equity portfolio as Gold does. For the second question, Bitcoin offers a better risk premium than Gold for in-sample and out-sample and considering both frameworks: long and long-short. However, Gold still gives a high premium per unit of risk. Therefore, Gold is also a good investment asset. Hence, even the similarities between both assets, Bitcoin cannot be considered as the new âDigital Goldâ because it is still in the infancy stage to be treated as Gold. (Less)
The interest has grown around Bitcoin as a trustless and decentralized digital payment service. Along with the increase in users and transactions, Bitcoin suffers from challenges regarding scalability. Many solutions have been proposed over the years, but Bitcoin is still struggling with finding the solution that suits everyone. Lightning Network as one of the most promising solutions, will be in the scope of this thesis, along with why such a solution is needed.\n\nBy investigating Bitcoin, scalability challenges and proposed solutions, we evaluated Bitcoin s future. We explore challenges such as propagation time, block size and energy consumption. Increasing the block size, changing the consensus algorithm and off-chain payments are discussed. The Lightning Network as an off-chain solution is investigated further in-depth. Challenges and consequences of implementing the Lightning Network are discussed. Furthermore, this thesis discusses whether the Lightning Network is the solution Bitcoin needs or not.
In this thesis, I expand on the concept of algorithmic authority, a concept that I introduced in earlier work to understand the role of algorithms in daily life. Algorithmic authority is the legitimate power of algorithms to direct human action and to impact which information is considered true. In contrast to much other work on algorithms in sociotechnical systems, I argue for more precise use of the word ĂąÂÂalgorithmĂąÂÂ, as well as for the importance of studying algorithmic systems that do consist of ĂąÂÂblack box algorithmsĂąÂÂ. Through a study of the users of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, I explore what it means to trust in algorithmic authority in an open source, decentralized system and contrast it with the authority of centralized and corporate software. My study utilizes data from my survey, interviews, and observation of the broader Bitcoin community. I examine the tensions between members of the Bitcoin community who would prefer to integrate Bitcoin into institutions and those that saw it as a radical use of algorithmic authority. I describe how my participants preferred algorithmic authority to the authority of conventional institutions that they saw as untrustworthy. However, they acknowledged the need for mediating algorithmic authority with human judgment. I examine these tensions between how they would like Bitcoin to be used and how it is being used, and what those tensions can tell us about algorithmic authority. Lastly, I suggest future research directions for examining a wider range of algorithms and better understanding the Bitcoin community.
The Indian economy is now moving towards digital currency with each passing day. However, the discussion has moved from digital currency to cryptocurrency, more specifically towards âbitcoinâ. Cryptocurrency is a digital asset which works as a medium of exchange and uses cryptography to secure its transactions, to control creation of additional units and to verify the transfer of assets. Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency; Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has advised caution on use of bitcoin but it is not illegal in India. In this paper, bitcoin is analysed as a medium of exchange and as an investment in the Indian scenario. It isconcluded that, in the near future, bitcoin is not feasible as a medium of exchange, however, it is imperative to accept it as an investment.
The aim of this thesis is to familiarize the reader with the problematics of the theoretical background of cryptocurrencies from the historical perspective, focusing on the concepts of B-money and Bit gold, which were the basis for the creation of Bitcoin. The main part is devoted to this decentralized cryptocurrency called Bitcoin. It introduces Bitcoin's main milestones, the Bitcoin Foundation, the functioning system itself, and eventually Bitcoin's prospects for the future. The aim of the second part of this thesis is to develop a simple and clear system for selecting a wallet as the storage of bitcoins. What should be decided by a person who considers holding his own bitcoins. Here is used a compairing method of selected criterias. Criterias are compared based on the prerequisite that the priority for selection is mainly the bitcoin wallet. For the idea of how this wallet looks and works, the practical part also includes a sample of two selected wallets, based on the comparison of criterias, and the transfer of one dollar between them. The aim of this bachelor thesis is to process the comparation of selection procedur for use by ordinary users.
Denna uppsats har tvĂ„ delsyften. Det första delsyftet Ă€r att ge en beskrivning av vad bitcoin Ă€r och hur tekniken bakom bitcoin fungerar. Det andra delsyftet Ă€r att redogöra för hur bitcoin ska vĂ€rderas. Genom en selektiv litteraturöversikt med avseende pĂ„ vĂ€rderingsmodeller för bitcoin har det andra delsyftet besvarats. I litteraturen har tre olika ansatser till att vĂ€rdera bitcoin Ă„terfunnits och denna uppsats presenterar respektive vĂ€rderingsansats för bitcoin och de resultat som har framkommit av tidigare studiers empiriska test. I den första modellen har bitcoin klassificerats och vĂ€rderats som ett betalningsmedel. Ansatsen för den andra modellen Ă€r att vĂ€rdera bitcoin som en finansiell tillgĂ„ng. UtgĂ„ngspunkten för den tredje modellen Ă€r att bitcoin Ă€r ett nĂ€tverk och ska vĂ€rderas utifrĂ„n den aspekten med hjĂ€lp av Metcalfeâs lag. Sammanfattningsvis kan alla tre modeller förklara bitcoins prisbildning till en viss del. Slutsatsen Ă€r att bitcoin i högre grad kan klassificeras och vĂ€rderas som en finansiell tillgĂ„ng, eller som ett nĂ€tverk, Ă€n som ett fungerande betalningsmedel.
Bitcoin is an arrangement expected to support the trading of noteworthy worth between parties. Bitcoins dislike traditional portion structures, which moves holds named in sovereign money related structures, Bitcoin has its own particular metric for an esteem called Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a complicated arrangement, and its utilization incorporates a mix of cryptography, circled figuring's, and inspiration driven lead. What's more, late enhancements prescribe that Bitcoin activities may incorporate dangers whose nature and degree are near nothing if by any methods, got on. In light of these considerations, the inspiration driving this paper is to give the basic establishment on the pricing aspects to appreciate crucial Bitcoin activities and chronicle a game plan of observational regularities related to Bitcoin utilize.
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.
Perceived price volatility of cryptocurrencies may distract practitioners from further developments in the blockchain space that may generate audit and other implications. As next step applications and developments are built on top of existing blockchain programming, the potential implications for both accounting and legal practitioners may be substantive. Especially as different blockchain tools and platforms become more robust and conducive for business and transactional use, the importance of being able to attest and report on this information will move closer toward the mainstream. This article discusses the rise of blockchain applications in a manner applicable for both practitioners and academics, as well as the implications these applications will have on attestation and compliance reporting.
The study examined the relationship between fiscal decentralization and health service delivery in Itojo sub-county. It was guided by the objective which were; to find out the extent to which citizensâ participation in planning and budgeting influence health services delivery in Itojo sub-county in Ntungamo District, to analyse how monitoring and evaluation of health care services affect health service delivery in Itojo sub-county in Ntungamo District and to identify the factors that constrain fiscal decentralization and health service delivery in Itojo sub county. The study used a case study design which and incorporated both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The sample for this study was 136 respondents and these were selected by use of purposive sampling. The study used questionnaires, interview guide and documentary review in gathering data for the study. Data analysis was done using SPSS which were used to generate frequency and percentages. From the findings, it was revealed that all decisions regarding health care services delivery are fully decentralized for effective delivery; decentralized planning has improved equitable health service delivery. Furthermore, it was revealed that monitoring is a key aspect of resource utilization for health service delivery. Further findings also revealed that feedback on the performance of the health sector is disseminated to technical staff at the local government level and this enhances health service delivery. It was pointed out that one of the most daunting challenges facing fiscal decentralization of health services in Uganda derives from the concerns relating to accountability, transparency, auditing and institutional corruption within both central and sub-national governments. From the findings corruption causes delays in implementation of health programmes thus ineffective healthcare service delivery. It was thus concluded that citizensâ participation in planning and budgeting influences health service delivery. The findings indicated that monitoring and evaluation greatly affect health service delivery. This implied that an increase in monitoring and evaluation of health services has positively influence on health service delivery. The study thus recommended that there is need for an effective and harmonized decentralized planning and budgeting processes at all levels in Uganda. There should be an effective budget committee in place in each of the districts to over-see resource mobilization and allocation of finance. Routine monitoring, supervision and evaluation of performance should be encouraged so that errors and misappropriations are reduced or eliminated in order to enhance effective health service delivery.
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 todayâs 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