Bitcoin

Bitcoin
Bitcoin

A digital Bitcoin wallet Ledger

[][]

The majority of the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network regulates transactions and balances.

Date of introduction 3 January 2009 Source User(s) Issuance Source Method Subunit .001 .000001 .00000001 Symbol mBTC (millicoin) BTC (microcoin) satoshi
[] [3]

Bitcoin Genesis Block International Limited release

[1]

Total BTC in Circulation

[2] []

The rate of new bitcoin creation will be halved every four years until there are 21 million BTC

BTC, XBT,

, ,

[]

Bitcoin (sign: ; code: BTC) is a cryptocurrency where the creation and transfer of bitcoins is based on an open-source cryptographic protocol that is independent of any central authority. Bitcoins can be A common Bitcoin logo. transferred through a computer or smartphone [4] without an intermediate financial institution. The concept was introduced in a 2008 paper by pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto, who called it a peer-to-peer, electronic cash system.[][5][6] The processing of Bitcoin transactions is secured by servers called bitcoin miners. These servers communicate over an internet-based network and confirm transactions by adding them to a ledger which is updated and archived periodically using peer-to-peer filesharing technology.[] In addition to archiving transactions, each new ledger update creates some newly minted bitcoins. The number of new bitcoins created in each update is halved every 4 years until the year 2140 when this number will round down to zero. At that time no more bitcoins will be added into circulation and the total number of bitcoins will have reached a maximum of 21 million bitcoins.[][] To accommodate this limit, each bitcoin is subdivided down to eight decimal places; forming 100 million smaller units called satoshis per bitcoin.[] Bitcoin is accepted in trade by merchants and individuals in many parts of the world. Like other currencies, illicit drug and gambling transactions constitute some of its commercial usage.[][7][8][9] Although the bitcoin is promoted

Bitcoin as a digital currency, many commentators have criticized the bitcoin's volatile exchange rate, relatively inflexible supply, high risk of loss, and minimal use in trade.[10][11][][][12]

Transactions
Bitcoin wallets & addresses
A user can have one or more bitcoin addresses from which bitcoins are sent or received using either a website or downloaded software often called a "wallet" like a digital wallet. Users can obtain new bitcoin addresses as needed. Many bitcoin services provide addresses tied to a user's individual account to hold funds on the user's behalf. Specifically, a bitcoin address is a A bitcoin transaction log showing addresses. cryptographic public key[] human-readable strings of numbers and letters around 33 characters in length, beginning with the digit 1 or 3, as in the example of 175tWpb8K1S7NmH4Zx6rewF9WQrcZv245W.[13] The matching private key is often stored in a digital wallet or mobile device and protected by a password or other means of authentication. Each bitcoin transaction is signed by the private key of the user initiating the transaction. Various vendors offer banknotes and coins denominated in bitcoins; what is sold is really a bitcoin private key as part of the coin or banknote. Usually, a seal has to be broken to access the key, while the receiving address remains visible on the outside so that the balance can be verified.[citation needed]

Payment network & mining

The Bitcoin network protocol operates to provide solutions to the problems associated with creating a decentralized currency and a peer-to-peer payment network. Key among them is the use of a blockchain to achieve consensus and to solve the double-spending problem. A bitcoin is defined by a chain of digitally-signed transactions that began with its creation as a block reward through bitcoin mining. Each owner transfers bitcoins to the next by digitally signing them over to the next owner in a Bitcoin transaction. A payee can then verify each previous transaction to verify the chain of ownership.

A diagram of a bitcoin transfer.

The network timestamps transactions by including them in blocks that form an ongoing chain called the blockchain. Such blocks cannot be changed without redoing the work that was required to create each block since the modified block. The longest chain serves not only as proof of the sequence of events but also records that this sequence of events was verified by a majority of the Bitcoin network's computing power. As long as a majority of computing power is controlled by nodes that are not cooperating to attack the network, they will generate the longest chain of records and outpace attackers.

Bitcoin The network itself requires minimal structure to share transactions. Messages are broadcast on a best effort basis, and nodes can leave and rejoin the network at will. Upon reconnection, a node will download and verify new blocks from other nodes to complete its local copy of the blockchain.[][]

History
Bitcoin is the first practical implementation of a cryptocurrency, a form of money that uses cryptography to control its creation and management, rather than relying on central authorities. However, not all of the technologies and concepts that make up Bitcoin are new; Satoshi Nakamoto integrated many existing ideas from the cypherpunk community when creating Bitcoin.[14]

Timeline
20082009 In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto posted a paper describing the Bitcoin protocol on the internet.[][][15][16] In 2009, the Bitcoin network came into existence with the release of the first open source Bitcoin client and the issuance of the first bitcoins.[][17][18][19] 2010 The prices for the first bitcoin transactions were negotiated by individuals on the bitcointalk forums. One notable transaction involved a 10,000 BTC pizza.[] On 6 August, a major vulnerability in the Bitcoin protocol was spotted. Transactions weren't properly verified before they were included in the transaction log or "block chain" which allowed for users to bypass Bitcoin's economic restrictions and create an indefinite number of bitcoins.[][] On 15 August, the major vulnerability was exploited. Over 184 billion bitcoins were generated in a transaction, and sent to two addresses on the network. Within hours, the transaction was spottedWikipedia:Avoid weasel words and erased from the transaction log after the bug was fixed and the network forked to an updated version of the Bitcoin protocol. This was the only major security flaw found and exploited in Bitcoin's history.[][] 20112012 In June 2011, Wikileaks[20] and other organizations began to accept the bitcoin for donations. The Electronic Frontier Foundation temporarily suspended bitcoin acceptance, citing concerns about a lack of legal precedent about new currency systems, and that they "generally don't endorse any type of product or service.".[21] The EFF's decision was changed in 17 May 2013.[22] In late-2011, the exchange rate of the bitcoin crashed from over $30 in June to below $2 in October. In January 2012, Bitcoin was featured as the main subject within a fictionalized trial on the CBS legal drama The Good Wife in the third season episode "Bitcoin for Dummies". The host of CNBC's Mad Money, Jim Cramer, played himself in a courtroom scene where he testifies that he doesnt consider bitcoin a true currency, saying Theres no central bank to regulate it; its digital and functions completely peer to peer.[] In October 2012, BitPay reported having over 1,000 merchants accepting Bitcoin under its payment processing service.[23] 2013 February The Bitcoin-based payment processor Coinbase reported selling $1 million in bitcoins in a single month at over $22 per bitcoin.[24] The Internet Archive announced that it is ready to accept donations as bitcoins and that it intends to give employees the option to receive portions of their salaries in Bitcoin currency.[] March

Bitcoin The Bitcoin transaction log or "block chain" temporarily forked into two independent logs with differing rules on how transactions could be accepted. The Mt.Gox exchange briefly halted Bitcoin deposits and the exchange rate briefly dipped by 23% to $37 as the event occurred[][] before recovering to previous level of approximately $48 in the following hours.[25] In the US, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) established regulatory guidelines for "decentralized virtual currencies" such as Bitcoin, classifying American "Bitcoin miners" who sell their generated bitcoins as Money Service Businesses (or MSBs), that may be subject to registration and other legal obligations.[][][] April Payment processor BitInstant and Mt.Gox experienced processing delays due to insufficient capacity.[26] On 10 April, the bitcoin exchange rate dropped from $266 to $76 before returning to $160 within six hours.[27] Bitcoin gained greater recognition when services such as OkCupid and Foodler began accepting it for payment.[28] May On 15 May 2013, the US authorities seized accounts associated with Mt. Gox after discovering that it had not registered as a money transmitter with FinCEN in the US.[29][] July A project underway in Kenya is linking Bitcoin with M-Pesa, a popular mobile payments system, in an experiment designed to spur innovative payments in Africa.[30] July 30, 2013 - Thailand declared Bitcoin illegal and suspended trading on Bitcoin exchanges in the country.[][] According to Vitalik Buterin, a writer for Bitcoin Magazine, "Bitcoins fate in Thailand may give the electronic currency more credibility in some circles. But he was concerned it didnt bode well for Bitcoin in China."[] As of July 2013, BitPay handled bitcoin transactions for more than 4,500 companies.[] August Federal Judge Amos Mazzant of the Eastern District of Texas of the Fifth Circuit ruled that bitcoins are "a currency or a form of money" (specifically securities as defined by Federal Securities Laws), and as such were subject to the court's jurisdiction.[31]

Satoshi Nakamoto
Satoshi Nakamoto is a pseudonym for the person or group of people who designed the original Bitcoin protocol in 2008 and launched the network in 2009. Except in connection with Bitcoin, the individual or individuals behind this pseudonym remains publicly unknown. Nakamoto was responsible for creating the majority of the Bitcoin software and was active in making modifications and posting technical information on the BitcoinTalk Forum.[] Nakamoto's involvement does not appear to extend past mid-2010.[] Investigations into the real identity of Satoshi Nakamoto have been attempted by The New Yorker and Fast Company. Fast Company's investigation brought up circumstantial evidence linking an encryption patent application filed by Neal King, Vladimir Oksman and Charles Bry on 15 August 2008, and the bitcoin.org domain name which was registered 72 hours later. The patent application (#20100042841 [32]) contained networking and encryption technologies similar to Bitcoin's, and textual analysis revealed that the phrase "...computationally impractical to reverse" appeared in both the patent application and bitcoin's whitepaper.[] All three inventors explicitly denied being Satoshi Nakamoto.[33][34] In May 2013, Ted Nelson speculated that Japanese mathematician Shinichi Mochizuki is Satoshi Nakamoto.[35] In April 2011, Nakamoto communicated with a Bitcoin contributor saying he had "moved on to other things".[36] Nakamoto then set up Gavin Andresen as his successor by giving him access to the Bitcoin SourceForge project and

Bitcoin a copy of the alert key.[37]

The fork of March 2013

On 12 March 2013, a Bitcoin miner running version 0.8.0 of the Bitcoin software created a large block that was incompatible with earlier versions of the Bitcoin software due to its size. This created a split or "fork" in the block chain since older versions of the software did not accept this block as valid. Computers with the recent version of the software accepted the block and continued to build on the diverging chain, whereas older versions of the software rejected it and continued extending the block chain without the offending block. This split resulted in two separate transaction logs being formed without clear consensus, which allowed for the same funds to be spent differently on each chain. In response, the Mt.Gox exchange temporarily halted Bitcoin deposits.[] The exchange rate fell 23% to $37 on the Mt.Gox exchange but rose most of the way back to its prior level of $48.[][] Developers at bitcoin.org resolved the split by recommending that users downgrade to "version 0.7", which utilized the oldest transaction log in the split. User funds largely remained unaffected and were available when network consensus was reached.[] The network reached consensus and continued to operate as normal a few hours after the split.[38]

Regulatory issues
On 18 March 2013, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (or FinCEN), a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, issued a report regarding centralized and decentralized "virtual currencies" and their legal status within "money services business" (MSB) and Bank Secrecy Act regulations.[][] It classified digital currencies and other digital payment systems such as Bitcoin as "virtual currencies" because they are not legal tender under any sovereign jurisdiction. FinCEN cleared American users of Bitcoin of legal obligations[] by saying, "A user of virtual currency is not an MSB under FinCENs regulations and therefore is not subject to MSB registration, reporting, and recordkeeping regulations." However, it held that American entities who generate "virtual currency" such as bitcoins are money transmitters or MSBs if they sell their generated currency for national currency: "...a person that creates units of convertible virtual currency and sells those units to another person for real currency or its equivalent is engaged in transmission to another location and is a money transmitter." This specifically extends to "miners" of the Bitcoin currency who may have to register as MSBs and abide by the legal requirements of being a money transmitter if they sell their generated bitcoins for national currency and are within the United States.[] Additionally, FinCEN claimed regulation over American entities that manage bitcoins in a payment processor setting or as an exchanger: "In addition, a person is an exchanger and a money transmitter if the person accepts such de-centralized convertible virtual currency from one person and transmits it to another person as part of the acceptance and transfer of currency, funds, or other value that substitutes for currency."[][] In summary, FinCEN's decision would require Bitcoin exchanges where bitcoins are traded for traditional currencies to disclose large transactions and suspicious activity, comply with money laundering regulations, and collect information about their customers as traditional financial institutions are required to do.[][][] Patrick Murck of the Bitcoin Foundation criticized FinCEN's report as an "overreach" and claimed that FinCEN "cannot rely on this guidance in any enforcement action".[]Wikipedia:No original research#Primary, secondary and tertiary sources Jennifer Shasky Calvery, the director of FinCEN said, Virtual currencies are subject to the same rules as other currencies. Basic money-services business rules apply here.[] In its October 2012 study VIrtual Currency Schemes,, the European Central Bank concluded that the growth of virtual currencies will continue, and, given the currencies' inherent price instability, lack of close regulation, and risk of illegal uses by anonymous users, the Bank warned that periodic examination of developments would be necessary to reassess risks.[]

Bitcoin In 2013, the U.S. Treasury extended its anti-money laundering regulations to processors of bitcoin transactions.[9][39] In June 2013, Bitcoin Foundation board member Jon Matonis wrote in Forbes that he received a warning letter from California's Department of Financial Institutions accusing the foundation of unlicensed money transmission, Matonis denying the foundation is engaged in money transmission and saying he viewed the case as "an opportunity to educate state regulators."[] In late July 2013, the industry group Committee for the Establishment of the Digital Asset Transfer Authority began to form to set best practices and standards, to work with regulators and policymakers to adapt existing currency requirements to digital currency technology and business models and develop risk management standards.[]

2013 bitcoin prices

The USD price of a bitcoin reached an all time high of $230 on 9 April 2013, up from just $13 at the start of the year.[40] Among the factors which may have contributed to this rise were the European sovereign-debt crisis particularly the 20122013 Cypriot financial crisis statements by FinCEN improving the currency's legal standing and rising media and Internet interest.[][][][] As the market valuation of the total stock of Bitcoins approached $1 billion USD, some commentators called Bitcoin prices a bubble.[][][] In early April 2013, the price per bitcoin dropped from $266 to around $50 and then rose to around $100. Over two weeks starting late June 2013 the price dropped steadily to $70 ending around $80. Refer to online sources for more recent events.[]

Economics
Large fluctuations in the value of bitcoins have led to criticism of bitcoin's legitimacy as a currency.[][] An April 2013 article in The Atlantic drew attention to bitcoin's deflationary bias which, unlike a regular currency, encourages hoarding.[41] Forbes contributor Louis Woodhill suggested that, rather than money, bitcoins are "the cyber equivalent of rare postage stamps" or other collectibles.[42] Nevertheless, there is evidence that bitcoin is being accepted by mainstream businesses,[43][] given the absence of transaction fees and Bitcoin's availability in countries not accepting PayPal.[] and hoarded by individuals.[44] Bitcoins have gained traction in Argentina as an alternative to the official currency.[45] There is also growing awareness of their usage in black market transactions, frustrating bitcoin's promoters. Despite its volatility, bitcoin is currently being used on the black-market Silk Road website[46] and by Iranians to evade foreign currency sanctions.[47] Financial journalists and analysts have speculated that there was a correlation between higher bitcoin usage in Spain and the 20122013 Cypriot financial crisis, through which bank deposit levies as high as 40% could have been placed on bank deposits; conceding that bitcoin is serving as a sort of financial haven for some European savers.[][][] Nick Colas, a financial analyst, claimed a rally in the price of bitcoins was One hundred percent...due to Cyprus, and that It means the Europeans are getting involved. In contrast, as of 2013, the use of bitcoin as a haven is limited for large amounts. As Colas also claims, Bitcoin is good if you want to make a deposit of between $1,000 and $10,000. But the liquidity is just not there in the system for multimillion dollar transactions...[]

Bitcoin

Distribution
Bitcoin has no central issuing [][48][49] authority. Nodes on the network are programmed to increase the money supply according to a pre-determined schedule until the total number of bitcoins reaches 21 million.[] Operators of these miner nodes can then hold their new bitcoins, sell them on exchanges or trade them for other goods and services at their discretion. Currently, 25 bitcoins are generated with each block found which occurs every 10 minutes on average. This amount, called the block reward, will be halved to 12.5 bitcoins within the year 2017 and again roughly every 4 years thereafter until a hard-limit of Total bitcoins over time 21 million bitcoins is reached around the year 2140.[][] As of March 2013[50] over 10.5 million of the total 21 million bitcoins had been created; the current total number created is available online.[51] In November 2012, half of the total supply was generated, and by end of 2016, three-quarters will have been generated. By around 2140, all bitcoins will have been generated with the final years producing only fractional units. To ensure sufficient granularity of the money supply, clients can divide each bitcoin down to eight decimal places (providing a total of 2.11015 or 2.1 quadrillion units).[]

Exchanges
Through various exchanges, bitcoins are bought and sold at a variable price against the value of other currency. Bitcoin has appreciated rapidly in relation to other currencies including the US dollar, euro and British pound.[40][52][53] In May 2013, one bitcoin traded at around $125. Taking into account the total number of bitcoins mined, the value of the money supply of the bitcoin network stands at over $1.4 billion USD.[][] According to Reuters, undisclosed documents indicate that banks such as Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have visited Bitcoin exchanges as often as 30 times a day. Employees of international banks and major financial organizations have shown interest in the Bitcoin markets as well.[]

Bitcoin as an investment
Although the Bitcoin Project describes bitcoin exclusively as an "experimental digital currency," [] bitcoins are often traded as an investment.[] Critics have accused bitcoin of being a form of investment fraud known as a Ponzi scheme.[][] A case study report[] by the European Central Bank observes that the bitcoin currency system shares some characteristics with Ponzi schemes, but also has characteristics which are distinct from the common aspects of Ponzi schemes as defined by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Bitcoins have been described as lacking intrinsic value as an investment because their value depends only on the willingness of users to accept it.[][54][55] In addition, a study indicated that 45 percent of Bitcoin exchanges end up closing with many customers losing their money.[12] Like many assets, bitcoins are also subject to theft.

Bitcoin Derivatives on bitcoins are thinly available. One organization offers futures contracts on bitcoins against multiple currencies.[] Several bitcoin investors have become entrepreneurs in the evolving bitcoin universe. Efforts are underway to build financial services, new exchanges, and new payment products using bitcoin. Interest in the bitcoin sector has arisen from investment funds, with recent Peter Thiel's Founders Fund investing US$3 million in the sector and the Winklevoss twins making a US$1.5 million investment.[]

Implications
Privacy
Bitcoin transactions are seen as relatively anonymous [56] and are the medium of exchange used in the online black market website Silk Road.[57][58] Some Bitcoin proponents are concerned that such associations may bring about negative perceptions of the currency.[59] The privacy of Bitcoin is the subject of active academic research.[60] Because Bitcoin transactions are broadcast to the entire network, they are inherently public. Using external information, it is possible, though usually difficult, to associate Bitcoin identities with real-life identities.[61][62] Unlike regular banking,[63] which can preserve customer privacy by keeping transaction records private, loose transactional privacy is accomplished in Bitcoin by using many unique addresses for every wallet, while at the same time publishing all transactions. An IEEE paper proposes a cryptographic extension to Bitcoin called Zerocoin, which would make Bitcoin anonymous and untraceable.[64][65][66][67][68]

Energy use and environmental impact

An April 2013 estimate[69] showed that the amount of energy being used every day to mine bitcoins was equivalent to the amount capable of powering about 31,000 American homes. This was estimated to be about USD $147,000 worth of energy. In comparison, profits made from a day's worth of bitcoin mining were given at about $681,000.

Botnet mining
In June 2011, Symantec warned about the possibility of botnets engaging in covert "mining" of bitcoins,[70][71] consuming computing cycles, using extra electricity and possibly increasing the temperature of the computer. Some malware also used the parallel processing capabilities of the GPUs built into many modern-day video cards.[72] Later that month, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation caught an employee using the company's servers to generate Bitcoins without permission.[73] In mid-August 2011, Bitcoin miner botnets were detected again,[74] and less than three months later bitcoin-mining trojans infecting Mac OS X were also discovered.[75]

Theft
There have been incidents of theft of bitcoin balances: On 19 June 2011, a security breach of the Mt.Gox bitcoin exchange caused the nominal price of a bitcoin to fraudulently drop to one cent on the Mt.Gox exchange, after a hacker allegedly used credentials from a Mt.Gox auditor's compromised computer illegally to transfer a large number of bitcoins to himself. He used the exchange's software to sell them all nominally, creating a massive "ask" order at any price. Within minutes the price corrected to its correct user-traded value.[76][77][][78][79][] Accounts with the equivalent of more than USD 8,750,000 were affected.[] In July 2011, the operator of Bitomat, the third largest bitcoin exchange, announced that he lost access to his wallet.dat file with about 17,000 bitcoins (roughly equivalent to 220,000 USD at that time). He announced that he

Bitcoin would sell the service for the missing amount, aiming to use funds from the sale to refund his customers.[80] In August 2011, MyBitcoin, a now defunct bitcoin transaction processor, declared that it was hacked, which resulted in it being shut down, with paying 49% on customer deposits, leaving more than 78,000 bitcoins (roughly equivalent to 800,000 USD at that time) unaccounted for.[81][82] In early August 2012, a lawsuit was filed in San Francisco court against Bitcoinica a bitcoin trading venue claiming about 460,000 USD from the company. Bitcoinica was hacked twice in 2012, which led to allegations of neglecting the safety of customers' money and cheating them out of withdrawal requests.[83][84] In late August 2012, an operation titled Bitcoin Savings and Trust was shut down by the owner, allegedly leaving around $5.6 million in bitcoin-based debts; this led to allegations of the operation being a Ponzi scheme.[85][86][87][88] In September 2012, it was reported that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had started an investigation on the case.[89] In September 2012, Bitfloor, a bitcoin exchange, also reported being hacked, with 24,000 bitcoins (roughly equivalent to 250,000 USD) stolen. As a result, Bitfloor suspended operations.[90][91] The same month, Bitfloor resumed operations, with its founder saying that he reported the theft to FBI, and that he is planning to repay the victims, though the time frame for such repayment is unclear.[92]

On 3 April 2013, Instawallet, a web-based wallet provider, was hacked,[93] resulting in the theft of over 35,000 bitcoins.[94] With a price of $129.90 per bitcoin at the time, or nearly $4.6 million USD in total, Instawallet suspended operations.

Taxation
Matthew Elias, founder of the Cryptocurrency Legal Advocacy Group (CLAG) published "Staying Between the Lines: A Survey of U.S. Income Taxation and its Ramifications on Cryptocurrencies", which discusses "the taxability of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin."[] CLAG "stressed the importance for taxpayers to determine on their own whether taxes are due on a bitcoin-related transaction based on whether one has "experienced a realization event."[] Such examples are "when a taxpayer has provided a service in exchange for bitcoins, a realization event has probably occurred, and any gain or loss would likely be calculated using fair market values for the service provided."[]

Reception
Bitcoin has been reviewed by several financial journalists and economists to mixed-acclaim. Its sustainability as a currency is often questioned: In 2011, economist Paul Krugman, wrote that "[bitcoin] has fluctuated sharply, but overall it has soared. So buying into [bitcoin] has, at least so far, been a good investment. But does that make the experiment a success? Um, no. What we want from a monetary system isnt to make people holding money rich; we want it to facilitate transactions and make the economy as a whole rich. And thats not at all what is happening in [bitcoin]."[] In 2013, Krugman stated that unlike gold or paper currencies, bitcoin derives its value solely from a self-fulfilling expectation that others will accept it as payment.[95] He also stated that it is unnecessarily wasteful to consume real resources, such as electric power, on the creation of bitcoins.[96] In March 2013, Nick Colas a Chief Market Strategist at ConvergEx Group, a Bank of New York Mellon investment firm analyzed bitcoin, saying "there is much to learn from [bitcoin] in the world of stateless currencies," and that "confidence in money as a store of value is the ultimate driver of its value, both in the cyber and real worlds. I have no idea which way [bitcoins] will trade in the next 2 days or 2 years, but the whole process of starting a new Internet currency is a great case study in how real people use real currency."[] In April 2013, an analysis by financial journalist Felix Salmonformerly of Portfolio Magazine, Euromoney and a blogging editor for Reutersconsidered the current of price of bitcoins to be a bubble. He noted that while the value of bitcoins is strongly affected by news media exposure and that they are an "uncomfortable combination of

Bitcoin commodity and currency," Bitcoin was "in many ways the best and cleanest payments mechanism the world has ever seen."[97] Economist John Quiggin has claimed that "Bitcoin is perhaps the finest example of a pure bubble", and that it provides a conclusive refutation of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis (EMH).[] While other assets used as currencysuch as gold, tobacco and U.S. dollarshave value independent of people's willingness to accept them as payment, Quiggin argues that "in the case of Bitcoin there is no source of value whatsoever" and that: Since Bitcoins do not generate any actual earnings, they must appreciate in value to ensure that people are willing to hold them. But an endless appreciation, with no flow of earnings or liquidation value, is precisely the kind of bubble the EMH says cant happen. Carnegie Mellon Professor Nicholas Christin studied online black market Silk Road and concluded that law enforcement authorities could stop it by disrupting its use of bitcoin for anonymous transactions.[] As of September 2012, Christin estimated that on Silk Road, where all transactions are required to use bitcoin, volume amounted to approximately $1.9 million per month.[] Online arms merchant Executive Outcomes, which deals in illicit goods, accepts only bitcoin in payment to ensure anonymity according to its site administrator. Christin stated that bitcoin increases the level of anonymity in such transactions, possibly making it more difficult to identify the buyer of a weapon used to commit a crime.[]

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References
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Bitcoin
[60] Androulaki, Elli et al. (2012) Evaluating User Privacy in Bitcoin (http:/ / eprint. iacr. org/ 2012/ 596. pdf). eprint.iacr.org [61] Fergal Reid and Martin Harrigan (24 July 2011). . An Analysis of Anonymity in the Bitcoin System. [62] The Economist. . 29 September 2012. Accessed 1 April 2013. [64] Miers, Ian. Zerocoin: Anonymous Distributed E-Cash from Bitcoin (http:/ / spar. isi. jhu. edu/ ~mgreen/ ZerocoinOakland. pdf). isi.jhu.edu [65] . Blog.cryptographyengineering.com (11 April 2013). Retrieved on 20 April 2013. [66] 'Zerocoin' Add-on For Bitcoin Could Make It Truly Anonymous And Untraceable (http:/ / www. forbes. com/ sites/ andygreenberg/ 2013/ 04/ 12/ zerocoin-add-on-for-bitcoin-could-make-it-truly-anonymous-and-untraceable/ ), Forbes, 26-05-2013 [67] zerocoin.org (http:/ / zerocoin. org/ ), 26-05-2013 [68] This is Huge: Gold 2.0 - Can code and competition build a better Bitcoin? (http:/ / www. newbitcoinworld. com/ 2013/ 04/ this-is-huge-gold-20-can-code-and. html), New Bitcoin World, 26-05-2013 [78] Lee, Timothy B. (19 June 2011) , Ars Technica [79] Karpeles, Mark (20 June 2011) Huge Bitcoin sell off due to a compromised account rollback (https:/ / support. mtgox. com/ entries/ 20208066-huge-bitcoin-sell-off-due-to-a-compromised-account-rollback), Mt.Gox Support [80] Dotson, Kyt (1 August 2011) . SiliconAngle [81] Jeffries, Adrianne (8 August 2011) . BetaBeat [82] Jeffries, Adrianne (19 August 2011) . BetaBeat [83] Geuss, Megan (12 August 2012) . Arstechnica [84] Peck, Morgen (15 August 2012) . IEEE Spectrum [89] Foxton, Willard (2 September 2012) . The Telegraph [94] . Blockchain.info (3 April 2013). Retrieved on 20 April 2013. [97] . Medium.com (3 April 2013). Retrieved on 20 April 2013.

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External links

Satoshi Nakamoto's original paper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System (http://bitcoin.org/bitcoin. pdf) A critique of Bitcoin (http://www.technollama.co.uk/ we-need-decentralized-cryptocurrencies-we-just-dont-need-bitcoin) An illustrated history of Bitcoin crashes from Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2013/04/11/ an-illustrated-history-of-bitcoin-crashes/?utm_campaign=forbestwittersf&utm_source=twitter& utm_medium=social) FinCEN March 18, 2013 guidelines (http://fincen.gov/statutes_regs/guidance/pdf/FIN-2013-G001.pdf) An article from the Economist against regulation of Bitcoin (http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/ 21576104-regulators-should-keep-their-hands-new-forms-digital-money-such-bitcoin-new-specie) A paper from Stanford University (https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:n9LqwtPKnBoJ:crypto. stanford.edu/~xb/fc12/bitcoin.pdf+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl& srcid=ADGEESiM-rUGI3pOu5oXGzBYoPSZPYxik4YiaL2RFlnNbsl9-lxGFwUDiG2l3CWfT_UgENpM7xX5S8F9y77-NEK1H sig=AHIEtbSR5SEC2UQsUhluXOrTcMTABeA89Q) Bitcoin.org (http://bitcoin.org/en/) Bitcoin Wiki (https://en.bitcoin.it/) Bitcoin Data (http://www.quandl.com/markets/bitcoin) Roberts, Russ (April 4, 2011). "Andresen on BitCoin and Virtual Currency" (http://www.econtalk.org/ archives/_featuring/gavin_andresen/). EconTalk. Library of Economics and Liberty. Paul Kemp-Robertson's TED talk, "Bitcoin. Sweat. Tide. Meet the future of branded currency" (http://www.ted. com/talks/paul_kemp_robertson_bitcoin_sweat_tide_meet_the_future_of_branded_currency.html), June 2013.

Article Sources and Contributors

12

Article Sources and Contributors

Bitcoin Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=567605680 Contributors: 020543m, 0x0F, 123sage321, 13Goldem, 51coin, 84user, 99of9, A. di M., APL, ASOTMKX, Aalegado, Abhishek191288, Aceat64, Acmilan15, AdjustablePliers, Advorak, AgadaUrbanit, Ainderbyquernhow, Ajfweb, Akh81, Ale85, Alex.ryazantsev, Alfy32, Andonic, Andrewman327, Andyhowlett, AnonMoos, Anonymous68th, Another John S, Antiquax, Antonio92, Araignee, Are you ready for IPv6?, Arichnad, Arjayay, Arthur Rubin, Astrohacker, Athaba, Atheros1, Aussiejohn, AustinZ, BalanceUT, Barry McGuiness, Batouzo, Bazuz, BeachComber1972, Ben Ben, BenM, Bender235, Benlisquare, Biblbroks, BitcoinTomWilliams, Bitcoineer, Bitenthusiast, Bizso, Blue Matt, Bluefist, Blueyed, Bob Re-born, Bobrayner, Bodnotbod, Bposert, Brianhe, Bulwersator, Burpen, BurritoBazooka, Bussings, Byelf2007, C S, C.Fred, CLSwiki, Cagliost, Calabe1992, Callanecc, Calmer Waters, Cambrasa, Casascius, Cathy Richards, Cavirtex, Celosia, Cesiumfrog, Cgtdk, Chosenken, 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file:Electrum Bitcoin Wallet.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Electrum_Bitcoin_Wallet.png License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: Hopkinsenior, HowardStrong, Torsch File:BitcoinSign.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:BitcoinSign.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: Satoshi Nakamoto File:Bitcoin logo.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bitcoin_logo.svg License: Public Domain Contributors: bitboy File:Capture-Electrum.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Capture-Electrum.png License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: Joise, Torsch File:Bitcoin Transaction Visual.svg Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Bitcoin_Transaction_Visual.svg License: Creative Commons Zero Contributors: Graingert File:Total bitcoins over time.png Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Total_bitcoins_over_time.png License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Contributors: Insti

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