Bitcoin and Beyond: A Technical Survey on Decentralized Digital Currencies

Florian Tschorsch; Björn Scheuermann

Paper 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.

Metadata

Available format(s): PDF
Category: Applications
Publication info: Published elsewhere. Minor revision. IEEE Communications Surveys Tutorials (COMST)
DOI: 10.1109/COMST.2016.2535718
Keywords: Bitcoin Survey Tutorial Altcoins Cryptocurrency Consensus
Contact author(s): tschorsch @ informatik hu-berlin de
History: 2016-04-01: revised; 2015-05-17: received; See all versions
Short URL: https://ia.cr/2015/464
License: CC BY

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2015/464,
      author = {Florian Tschorsch and Björn Scheuermann},
      title = {Bitcoin and Beyond: A Technical Survey on Decentralized Digital Currencies},
      howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 2015/464},
      year = {2015},
      doi = {10.1109/COMST.2016.2535718},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2015/464}
}