Cryptology ePrint Archive: Report 2015/464

Bitcoin and Beyond: A Technical Survey on Decentralized Digital Currencies

Florian Tschorsch and Björn Scheuermann

Abstract: Besides attracting a billion dollar economy, Bitcoin revolutionized the field of digital currencies and influenced many adjacent areas. This also induced significant scientific interest. In this survey, we unroll and structure the manyfold results and research directions. We start by introducing the Bitcoin protocol and its building blocks. From there we continue to explore the design space by discussing existing contributions and results. In the process, we deduce the fundamental structures and insights at the core of the Bitcoin protocol and its applications. As we show and discuss, many key ideas are likewise applicable in various other fields, so that their impact reaches far beyond Bitcoin itself.

Category / Keywords: applications / Bitcoin, Survey, Tutorial, Altcoins, Cryptocurrency, Consensus

Original Publication (with minor differences): IEEE Communications Surveys Tutorials (COMST)
DOI: 10.1109/COMST.2016.2535718

Date: received 15 May 2015, last revised 1 Apr 2016

Contact author: tschorsch at informatik hu-berlin de

Available format(s): PDF | BibTeX Citation

Version: 20160401:110402 (All versions of this report)

Short URL: ia.cr/2015/464