Title :
Is Bitcoin a Decentralized Currency?
Author :
Gervais, Arthur ; Karame, Ghassan O. ; Capkun, Vedran ; Capkun, S.
Abstract :
Bitcoin has achieved popularity by promising users a fully decentralized, low-cost virtual currency system. However, a limited set of entities controls Bitcoin´s services, decision-making, mining, and incident resolution processes. These entities can decide Bitcoin´s fate, bypassing the will of the multitude of users that populate the network.
Keywords :
foreign exchange trading; bitcoin; decentralized currency; low-cost virtual currency system; Cryptography; Internet; Online banking; Peer-to-peer computing; Proposals; Bitcoin; decentralized decision process; privacy; security;
Journal_Title :
Security & Privacy, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/MSP.2014.49
