Bitcoin-like Protocols and Innovation

Publication Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2015

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors examine the Bitcoin protocol and its innovation. Their conclusion is that Bitcoin's role as a system providing financial services may have been grossly underestimated, and bitcoin's role as an alternative to fiat currencies is likely to fail. This chapter discusses the Bitcoin key engineering elements that offer the possibility of a radically different approach for architecting electronic payment systems among other more sophisticated system such as crowd sales, crowd funding, peer-to-peer exchanges, and other side-chain capabilities. The technologies embedded within the Bitcoin system that have the potential to develop into very open, contestable, and interconnected ecosystems for the delivery of new and existing form of financial services will also be described.

Keywords

Bitcoin protocols, Bitcoin, Innovations, Blockchain, Mining, Block time, Forks, Crowd sales, Crowd funding, Electronic payment system, Side chain, Peer-to-peer exchanges, Prepaid card, Merchant, ATM solutions

Discipline

Business | E-Commerce

Research Areas

Quantitative Finance

Publication

Handbook of Digital Currency: Bitcoin, Innovation, Financial Instruments, and Big Data

Editor

Lee, David K. C.

First Page

417

Last Page

451

ISBN

9780128021170

Identifier

10.1016/B978-0-12-802117-0.00021-7

Publisher

Elsevier Academic Press

City or Country

Amsterdam

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-802117-0.00021-7

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