The Future Of Bitcoin Governance And Trading: How Bitcoin Will Change International Finance Essay.

You are required to write a report on the topic- The Future of Bitcoin Governance and Trading, please relate to How Bitcoin Will Change International Finance?

The Evolution of Money and Introduction of Cryptocurrencies

The research topic dwells on the future of Bitcoin Trading and Governance about how Bitcoin will revolutionize the universal finance. Humanities have transitioned from the initial barter economy to the use of money as an exchange medium. Presently, people have tried to come up with ways that enable the rational exchange of value, thus allowing the exchange of services and goods commensurable. A Greek theorist Aristotle devised four principles that help individuals decree what is reflected as ‘good money.’ The four standards state that for something to be considered money, it should be; portable, having an intrinsic value, durable and divisible (Trad, and Kalpi? 2018). Initially, gold was a preferred exchange medium as it met all the four criteria. However, as the economies developed, the demand for the exchange medium increased, the management was required to establish a standard of interchange that was more manageable and could be easily regulated and controlled. This gave birth to the fiat currency era, an exchange standard that has been accepted globally. However, the medium has several setbacks which are being fixed, for instance, the introduction of the cryptocurrencies into the financial world (Yermack 2015).

A cryptocurrency has been defined as a digital currency which makes use of the cryptography for safety purposes. Block-chain particularly handles the procedure in which information is planned and permits for the dispersed digital ledgers existence where single administrations are unable to impact the transactions. Bitcoin is found to be the poster-child for the booming of the cryptocurrency status; Bitcoin was the leading ‘devolved’ currency, that was managed way from the central government’s influences (Vasiljeva, and Lukanova 2016). It functions through the use of a peer-to-peer scheme whose transactions are directly verified among the users. The strength of the study is that, since the present world is more of a digital economy, Bitcoin advancement has accelerated yearly. The investigation is therefore useful as it detects any limitation of the digital currencies and provides solutions for the issues thus allowing greater financial advancements in the wider society (Vassiliadis et.al 2017).

Bitcoin was launched in the year 2009, and the block-chain technology development brought Bitcoin into the mainstream. Block-chain permits verification of transactions, thus ensuring transparency and security of the cryptocurrency marketplaces. Bitcoin as the most popular and first cryptocurrency is an encoded peer-to-peer complex that facilitates digital barter. Although the cryptocurrencies might not entirely replace the initial fiat money, they can alter the way the internet-connected universal markets correlate with one another (Girasa 2018). Thus, removing the obstacles that surround the normative state exchange rates and currencies. Technology progresses rapidly, and the achievement of a particular technology is always determined by the business it improves. Therefore, the cryptocurrencies might revolutionize the digital trade bazaars by forming a trading system that flows freely without charge of the service fees (Dobrescu, and Dobrescu 2017).

Bitcoin: The Poster-Child of Cryptocurrencies

For the people purchasing and selling products and services internationally, Bitcoin provides various profits, and they include: Absence of the exchange rates when dealing with various worldwide buyers and suppliers from different countries, one has to deal with the innumerable exchange charges. However, use of Bitcoin, allows all the business people to use a similar currency having similar value, without the consistent monetary exchange strains; Quick movement of money, transactions of the cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin is instantaneous. The transfer process from posting to payment validation in the block-chain takes about 10 minutes; Secure payments, the cash received at the Bitcoin payment is always safe (Garay, Kiayias, and Leonardos 2015). The operators are required to have upfront money availability to avoid cases of credit transactions canceling and payment bouncing; Lower fee and tax rates, since Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer financial system, there is an absence of taxes governing them. The transaction fee is also very affordable; Comprehensive records, the built block-chains from the Bitcoin transactions generate secure and clear records which can be traced and proved (Trad, and Kalpi? 2018). Currently, there is a dialogue of trying shipments and contracts to dealings within the block-chain that make logistics and business easier to trace. With the technology of block-chain assisted by cryptocurrency, procedures could be more transparent, efficient and easier. Most companies are supportive of the blockchain's knowledge that the IBM company has partnered with the Danish transporter Maersk to model a block-chain shipment-tracking scheme (Girasa 2018). 

There are various shortcomings to the cryptocurrency, Bitcoin which have delayed its adoption; they include Uncertainty of Bitcoin’s future. Although one Bitcoin’s value is more than a gold’s ounce, financial and economist leaders caution that cryptocurrency can be another development that will lead to a great loss; From the daily user position, there are issues with cryptocurrency too, Bitcoin is illegal in some republics (Gupta 2017). Therefore it can’t be useful universally. Since the process requires the users to have money at hand to buy products, the procedure isn’t possible yet.

The investigation findings were based on the research question that fetched to analyze the recent movements and events that would affect whether Bitcoin subsidizes in the modification of the economic prototypes. The questionnaire was answered by two hundred and fifty participants from different countries with varied businesses and company backgrounds. The analysis helped the investigators identify the strengths, opportunities, threats, and weaknesses experienced at Bitcoin. The hypothesis of the study includes, Cryptocurrency’s Bitcoin under block-chain technology is the leading mode of currency exchange in the world (Dobrescu, and Dobrescu 2017). Another theory was, basing on the current growth rate of cryptocurrency worldwide, Bitcoin’s strengths are more than the limitations.

Benefits of Bitcoin in International Trade

The investigation is important to the Bitcoin Company in various ways; since the cryptocurrency mode of exchange has greatly advanced its necessary for a SWOT analysis for the Bitcoin Business to be able to place defense and offense. The exploration permits the exposure of the new opportunities within Bitcoin, for instance, the Bitcoin’s headlines domination due to its incredible growth rate of 1300%, is an indication of the business’s strength, therefore, opening greater financial and accounting opportunities to people (Dwyer 2015). The study also enables the bitcoin founders and stakeholders to identify new competitors in the market and fend them off by improving the cryptocurrency system’s services. The research will empower the stockholders to generate a strategy of attacking the competitors through the management of the weaknesses and threats, and maximizing the strengths of the organization.

Due to the comprehensive Data amalgamation nature of the study, the stockholders and the society at large benefit from the integration of qualitative and quantitative information gathered, therefore, ensuring humanity development and the society ’s growth at large. The info gathered establishes a clear view of the state of the block-chain and cryptocurrency technologies, thus enabling more business individuals to venture into a digital form of money exchange resulting in the advancement of businesses, companies, and nations at large (Garay, Kiayias, and Leonardos 2015). The research reveals more strengths of the system; the mode of exchange at cryptocurrency is affordable as it doesn’t involve exchange rates fee, it is secure thus preventing theft cases, and it provides reports that fully detail to ensure maximum secure transfer of products, therefore venturing into cryptocurrency money exchange will positively affect the partakers. The study reveals the weakness and threats influencing bitcoin, therefore, allowing stakeholders identify appropriate management measures to ensure the progression of the business. The statistical evidence reveals that the cryptocurrency has ascended to the US$8,450 in the United States, and the overall cryptocurrency bazaar heads to a remarkable US$350 billion in the market (Sahoo 2017).

Studies are distributed into three categories which are; causal, exploratory and descriptive. The allocation depends on the resolution and use of the exploration. The SWOT analysis involved exploratory research as the evaluation focused on the detection of threats, weaknesses, opportunities, and strengths of the Bitcoin market. The exploratory study was used to describe further the cryptocurrency bazaar’s priority areas that required more statistical research. The investigation also identified alternative action courses and areas for possible growth within Bitcoin (Abramova, and Böhme 2016. P, 58). Since the survey was online, the queries set were open-ended, to allow a better understanding of the people surveyed. The responses gave quality info that leads to the discovery of novel problems and initiatives within Bitcoin that were to be addressed.

Challenges and Limitations of Bitcoin

Non-probability sampling was used in the study; the samples were chosen to base on the subjective decision of the investigators. The examiners had to identify and select individuals who had a clear understanding of the Bitcoin network and who are present on the market web. Since the research was quantitative non-probability sampling was effective as it is easier to use. The sample criterion was also effective in the study as the researchers only aimed at identifying the problems and advantages within the bitcoin market (Pilkington 2016). The non-probability sample was further broken down into subjective/judgmental sampling also referred to as purposive sampling; the skill was based on the decision of the investigator. The purposive sampling techniques applied by the researchers comprised of; typical case, expert, total population, an extreme case, and maximum variation sampling methods. The researchers employed the mentioned systems in there sampling criteria to come up with an appropriate sample for the SWOT assessment of Bitcoin. The sample chosen had the appropriate characteristics essential for answering the queries of the questionnaire (Tansey 2011).

The participants of the research comprised of a total of two hundred and fifty online respondents present at the Bitcoin website. The partakers of the interview were based from all over the world including those from the African nations, Asian countries and the European states. The respondents were provided an online questionnaire that involved open ended questions that analyzed the threats, strengths, opportunities and weakness at Bitcoin (Ram, Maroun, and Garnett 2016).

The research results were based on the survey that was responded to by the two hundred and fifty online partakers of the interview from the bitcoin web. The questionnaire was conducted online, and the response rate was at 100%.  The interviewees were made to understand the study’s purpose; they were also guaranteed of their confidentiality (Pilkington 2016). The purposive non-probability sampling technique was used since it was exploratory research. The analysis consisted of three open-ended questions; a pilot study was also conducted to evaluate the questionnaire, the answers obtained from the interview were critically analyzed by the interviewers though group discussions (Stocchi et al. 2016).

The pilot research was steered before the main interview, the study comprised of forty participants from the Bitcoin market website. The questionnaire was delivered to the participants in an informal state; this was done to determine the questionnaire’s relevance to the entire business population. An external pilot survey was carried out, that is the forty participants in the pilot study didn’t take part in the main investigation (Ram, Maroun, and Garnett 2016). The pilot survey results were succinctly analyzed by the interviewers, and any arising issues in the research queries were revised.

Analysis of Bitcoin's Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT)

Data collection comprised of an online interview with the participants at the Bitcoin website in August 2018. The investigators set the open-ended questions to get detailed info from the interviewees; the non-purposive sampling technique was employed since it is easier to conduct and it takes a shorter time (Ram, Maroun, and Garnett 2016). The online interview structure was selected according to the market state of Bitcoin; the online setting was the most convenient. The gathered data was analyzed through group discussions amongst the researchers; further SWOT assessment was conducted via conducting online research to back up collected data. In the cases of statistical data, the Phillips Perron (PP) and Augmented Dicky Fuller (ADF) tests were used, the results found are illustrated in the table (Neudecker et al. 2015).

Table 1: The statistical data calculation results by the PP and ADF tests (Neudecker et al. 2015)

Notes; the PP test states that the In-transaction and In-value are non-stationary. The AGF test, on the other hand, illustrates that, at the level stage, the In-value is non-stationary.

Cite; Sahoo 2017. 249(4)/ journal Bitcoin as digital money

Bitcoin has advanced its strength through its structural design that makes it a viable exchange model thus raising its status annually; the statement was backed by 51% of the partakers in the exploration. Bitcoin would be extracted with returns that are diminishing till the attainment of the maximum bitcoin’s number, which is 21 million, this bitcoin’s factor is significant for the cryptocurrency’s price. The number of bitcoins will never be inflated due to overabundance since the amount of the bitcoins is limited, also all cryptocurrencies, bitcoins included, are usually observed as being secured from inflations, and the idea originates from restrictions or changes of the state governments (Peters, and Panayi 2016). This generates a ‘safe heaven’ for the shareholders to invest their wealth into the bitcoin network market, bitcoins have also been found to never lose their value due to inflation. Bitcoin has illustrated its strength as a sanctuary place against the inflating state currencies. However, as normality with most of the commodities, the value can wildly fluctuate based on various external factors.

Figure 1: Bitcoin’s status advancement Source: (Peters, and Panayi 2016)

Notes; for 24 months the value of Bitcoin raised to 1800%, and 700% for 12 months. With a single Bitcoin’s unit being three times valuable than a particle of gold. 

Cite; Cheah, and Fry 2015/ Article on Speculative bubbles in Bitcoin markets, p-34

Importance of the Study to the Bitcoin Company and the Wider Society

The integration of the need for an option of safe heaven and the bitcoin’s charge voluntarily assisted it to be the top performing currency in the year 2015, by the use of the Index Dollar from the US. The performance means that the highest treasure currency worldwide, by the end of the year 2015 was Bitcoin, this was according to the statement given by 63% of the interviewees. This is a great achievement for Bitcoin considering that it overtook the universal economic giants in the US and China. South America has experienced a large bitcoin transaction increase of 510% in the years 2014-2015 (Cheah, and Fry 2015). Argentina is the center for cryptocurrency usage increase because of its enormously high rates of inflation as well as its large population of citizens without bank accounts. Initially, Argentinians converted their state currency to the US dollars to retain their value. However, the country has lately placed a limit on the amount of the US dollars that can be converted in the republic. This has resulted in cases of black markets for buying the USD at higher prices and an increase in the adoption of the bitcoin market (Valente, Atkinson, and Clifford 2018).

The UK chose to leave the EU, before the voting the bitcoin’s price decreased by about 15% after the UK’s election to leave EU the value rose steadily to 65o$ from 550$ in a day (Richter, Kraus, and Bouncken 2015).  The cryptocurrency is powerful in such cases since it is the only exchange mode that can be bought and traded expeditiously, it can also be used universally. The fiat currencies can also be exchanged. However, the process requires physical presence transactions, and the cash can’t be expended unless it’s locally accepted. In the case of Bitcoin, such situations are not experienced, purchasing bitcoins only requires setting an account online with an accessible exchange, making a request and the business is conducted in a few minutes. Once there are the bitcoins in the digital account, one can purchase any product in the whole world. The fiat currencies might be strong and desirable but can’t compete with the agility of the cryptocurrency.

Figure 2: Transaction Volume Growth Chart; Source: (Richter, et al., 2015)

Notes; the Latin American nations are leading the bitcoin transactions followed by the European nations, then the Asian countries and North America takes the last category in the transaction growth scale.

Methodology: Exploratory Research and SWOT Analysis

Cite; DeVries, P.D., 2016/ International Journal of Business Management and Commerce, p-35.

According to 26% of the participants of the questionnaire, Bitcoin has some weaknesses due to its scheme and can’t be easily modified. The block-chain shows that each transaction is seen by every user. The communal block-chain allows sharing with the other users. Therefore it is vulnerable to attacks due to easy accessibility (Hossain 2017). Bitcoin has also settled a reputation that is questionable via the recent happenings. The cases such as the Silk Road stories depicts a negative picture of the digital currency. Generally, the Silk Road scandal was a dark-net buried online market that allowed drug dealing businesses. Bitcoin was their leading resource for transaction practices, due to the absence of administrative tracking (Moore, and Christin 2013).

The cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, have established a questionable security reputation. Magic the Gathering Online Exchange, was the universe’s prime bitcoin currency interchange scheme that became broke due to the hacking and robbery in 2011, this was because the main programmer and CEO were not applying a version regulator for the new code. The shift in the mining bitcoin community can make the web less safe and more susceptible to online attacks. The ability of the cryptocurrency to be merchandised like a product can be a flaw (Nadarajah, and Chu 2017.). Markets that are commodity based illustrate large fluctuation rates in the price from different happenings at the bazaar. The fluctuation of the value limits the trust of the investors in the goods, the determinates of the prices of bitcoins haven’t been truly meted out, this makes great value fluctuations. The vitality of the prices discourages buyers and sellers from retaining cash for a longer time; this has decreased the trust of the shareholders (DeVries 2016).

Depositors have begun to realize that the network at Bitcoin has stabilized. Therefore the immediate yields from their savings are not assured. The coding source has made the process of resolving the algorithm even more challenging, thus increasing the mining costs for the bitcoins. The situation is referred to as the halving event as it results in cutting off the bitcoin number that is returned to the mineworkers by half. The happenings are feared to lead to a loss of 25% of the bitcoin system that is known to run the aged computer hardware, due to the increased machine operation costs. The shift in the quarrying society makes the bitcoin web insecure and more susceptible to attacks. The changes also reduce the changes of the new miners that are getting into the system because of the limited mining returns with higher overhead requirements (Gupta 2017).

Non-Probability Sampling

Bitcoin has an exceptional position as the precursor in a potentially transformative technology in financial systems that are long-standing, this aspect was confirmed by 49% of the study’s respondents. The nature of Bitcoin enables it to fill the present financial, technological gaps as well as assist in solving the traditional financial issues since it is a peer-to-peer scheme. The ad-hoc networking ability of bitcoin allows two operators to trade bitcoin among themselves by scanning the displayed QR codes on the phones; this is a unique problem-solving strategy present at bitcoin (Böhme et al. 2015). There is a great bazaar for possible developers to form the problem-solving applications as the technology could impact every company that depends on a third-party trusted clearance system. Businesses have started to recognize the value of making use of the cryptocurrencies for the worldwide transactions particularly when the dealings require a quick emergency response. The peer-to-peer nature of the bitcoin network allows quick currency exchange with very little or no transaction costs at a very short period, about 10 minutes; this has made most companies shift to the bitcoin cash exchange mode (Karame, Androulaki, and Capkun 2012).

The internet markets have thrived greatly in comparison to the previous market brick-to-mortar stores, businesses like PayPal have been connecting sellers and buyers who mainly use bitcoin in completing their transactions. Amazon. Com, on the other hand, has grown to a level that was unexpected, the company has begun to rent delivery drivers who are on-demand, who make use of their personalized vehicles to distribute customary packages. The growth indicates an effort to tighten further the management of the logistic costs of the company that expands exceptionally due to an increase in the business. The marketplaces illustrate how the digital money can connect dealers without governmental interferences and still progress, this idea was established by 56% of the research participants (Nelms et al. 2018). Shopping online has thrived greatly, and bitcoin is self-assured of extending its influence with easy and efficient payments for both the customers and the vendors. The general purpose shopping center that is established for online shoppers accounts for about 23% of the Bitpay processed transactions in a year. Bitcoin has an advantage over the card-based traditional transactions as the peer-to-peer network eliminates the transaction charges. The recently passed universal laws concerning taxation, have fashioned the validity for bitcoin as a conventional currency exchange device (Peters, and Panayi 2016).

Conclusion

The newly passed universal laws about the taxation of the cryptocurrencies have created the validity of the cryptocurrencies, specifically the bitcoins. The regulations are needed to assess the validity of the bitcoins, before the consideration of any transaction of the digital money. The bitcoins could develop to higher levels in the product market; this is due to their exclusive feature of direct online mechanization which provides a quick entry for the purchasers (Dwyer 2015). The European Court of Justice publicized that, the bitcoin transactions were viewed as an exempt from the tax that was value-added, the court announcement was made in the year 2015, this step significantly contributed towards the efficient flow of the cryptocurrencies (Valente, Atkinson, and Clifford 2018). 

There are a few hurdles at bitcoin that need clearance to ensure widespread user competence. The fluctuating value of the bitcoins distracts the dealers’ trust; this limits the competence of the cryptocurrency, some of the participants (65%) from the research illustrated little to no trust in the bitcoin market. The doubt established due to the fluctuating bitcoin’s values has led to decrease in the number of investors at the network, as there is limited faith in the value of the bitcoin currencies (Bartos 2015). The absence of central proprietorship of the bitcoin web indicates that any effort to remediate the fluctuating bitcoin value problem using announcements could hypothetically help the investing competitor companies. Therefore, the aspect is labeled as an unideal situation for a well-established marketing plan.

The faulty scheme setups of the currency exchange industry make its susceptible to hacking activities increasing the insecurity issues thus forcing most of the investors to flee from the business. The increased theft and hacking activities convince the layman that bitcoin web is an unsafe place to invest. The initial scandals for bitcoin system failures such as the Mt Gox case have made shareholders to lack trust in the bitcoin market, and these have led to a decrease in the bazaar’s proficiency (Sapirshtein, Sompolinsky, and Zohar, 2016). The large breach in the laws covering the use of bitcoins limits the aspect of user acceptance. The consumers require trust assurance during the transaction process of the bitcoins, and this is usually through legal bindings. Governments and markets are slow in taking action towards the new technological advancements, therefore, limiting the trust of the customers as well as the investors in the bitcoin network. The increase in the dead pool failure startups to 24, with insecurity being the leading factor for closure, the future stockholders are forced to consider their steps before saving in the bitcoin network (DeVries 2016).

References

Conclusion

Bitcoin is greatly advancing, as seen from the study’s discussion; the bitcoin’s growth has accelerated. Most individuals are interested in Bitcoin market due to its economic potentials while others it’s because of fundamental the technology of the business. It is speculated that bitcoin will significantly transform the world’s financial system due to its block-chain technology system (Valente, Atkinson, and Clifford 2018). For these reasons, the governance of bitcoin needs to advance to ensure effective control of the threats and weakness of the bazaar and increase the market’s strengths for increased cryptocurrency’s competence. Therefore, various policies have been established by the bitcoin markets administrative; the policy that suggests that Bitcoin should subscribe to the governance model consensus, whereby every shareholder has to approve a change before it is instigated, is one of the policies that are generated (Barber et al. 2012).

The study was conducted online; in such cases, the interviewers are denied of the first-hand face to face information, therefore, failing to obtain vital evidence that is expressed physically such as facial expressions and body movements (Ram, Maroun, and Garnett 2016). The research has a limitation of the high level of subjectivity, the nature of the SWOT assessment requires a very limited time frame and the decisions made about the negative and positive circumstances affecting the market. This can be due to the SWOT analyzers’ influence because of their background. The non-probability sampling technique might cultivate investigator biasness since the samples chosen are grounded on the researcher’s judgment (Tansey 2011) The open-ended questions might be answered inappropriately, and this denies the interviewees an opportunity to appropriately understand the respondent’s thinking about the topic under the study. 

References

Abramova, S. and Böhme, R., 2016. Perceived benefit and risk as multidimensional determinants of bitcoin use: a quantitative exploratory study, (pp 56-59). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Barber, S., Boyen, X., Shi, E. and Uzun, E., 2012, February. Bitter to better—how to make bitcoin a better currency. In International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security (pp. 399-414). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Bartos, J., 2015. Does Bitcoin follow the hypothesis of efficient market?. International Journal of Economic Sciences, 4(2), pp.10-23. IGI Global.

Böhme, R., Christin, N., Edelman, B. and Moore, T., 2015. Bitcoin: Economics, technology, and governance. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(2), pp.213-38. ACM.

Carrick, J., 2016. Bitcoin as a complement to emerging market currencies. Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, 52(10), pp.2321-2334. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Cheah, E.T. and Fry, J., 2015. Speculative bubbles in Bitcoin markets? An empirical investigation into the fundamental value of Bitcoin. Economics Letters, 130, (pp.32-36). Springer, Cham.

Ciaian, P. and Rajcaniova, M., 2016. The digital agenda of virtual currencies: Can BitCoin become a global currency?. Information Systems and e-Business Management, 14(4), pp.883-919. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

DeVries, P.D., 2016. An Analysis of Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, and the Future. International Journal of Business Management and Commerce, (35). IGI Global.

Dobrescu, E.M., and Dobrescu, E.M., 2017. Future Of Virtual Currency. Journal of Financial and Monetary Economics, 4(1), (pp.118-124). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Dwyer, G.P., 2015. The economics of Bitcoin and similar private digital currencies. Journal of Financial Stability, 17, pp.81-91. IGI Global.

Garay, J., Kiayias, A. and Leonardos, N., 2015, April. The bitcoin backbone protocol: Analysis and applications. In Annual International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Cryptographic Techniques (pp. 281-310). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Girasa, R., 2018. Conclusion: The Future of Cryptocurrencies. In Regulation of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technologies (pp. 247-252). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Gupta, R., 2017. Future of Bitcoins-A Study. Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce, 22(3), pp.1-12. IGI Global.

Hossain, S.A., 2017, September. Blockchain computing: Prospects and challenges for digital transformation. In Reliability, Infocom Technologies and Optimization (Trends and Future Directions)(ICRITO), 2017 6th International Conference on (pp. 61-65). IEEE.

Karame, G.O., Androulaki, E. and Capkun, S., 2012, October. Double-spending fast payments in bitcoin. In Proceedings of the 2012 ACM conference on Computer and communications security (pp. 906-917). ACM.

Moore, T. and Christin, N., 2013, April. Beware the Middleman: Empirical analysis of Bitcoin-exchange risk. In International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security (pp. 25-33). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Nadarajah, S. and Chu, J., 2017. On the inefficiency of Bitcoin. Economics Letters, 150, (pp.6-9). IEEE.

Nelms, T.C., Maurer, B., Swartz, L. and Mainwaring, S., 2018. Social payments: Innovation, trust, Bitcoin, and the sharing economy. Theory, Culture & Society, 35(3), (pp.13-33). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Neudecker, T., Andelfinger, P. and Hartenstein, H., 2015, May. A simulation model for analysis of attacks on the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network. In Integrated Network Management (IM), 2015 IFIP/IEEE International Symposium on (pp. 1327-1332). IEEE.

Peters, G.W. and Panayi, E., 2016. Understanding modern banking ledgers through blockchain technologies: Future of transaction processing and smart contracts on the internet of money. In Banking Beyond Banks and Money (pp. 239-278). Springer, Cham.

Pilkington, M., 2016. 11 Blockchain technology: principles and applications. Research handbook on digital transformations, (p.225). IEEE.

Underwood, S., 2016. Blockchain beyond bitcoin. Communications of the ACM, 59(11), (pp.15-17). ACM.

Ram, A., Maroun, W. and Garnett, R., 2016. Accounting for the Bitcoin: accountability, neoliberalism and a correspondence analysis. Meditari Accountancy Research, 24(1), pp.2-35. IGI Global.

Richter, C., Kraus, S. and Bouncken, R.B., 2015. Virtual currencies like Bitcoin as a paradigm shift in the field of transactions. The International Business & Economics Research Journal (Online), 14(4), p.575. Springer, Cham.

Sahoo, P.K., 2017. Bitcoin as digital money: Its growth and future sustainability. Theoretical & Applied Economics, 24(4). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Sapirshtein, A., Sompolinsky, Y. and Zohar, A., 2016, February. Optimal selfish mining strategies in bitcoin. In International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security (pp. 515-532). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Stocchi, M., Lunesu, I., Ibba, S., Baralla, G. and Marchesi, M., 2016. The Future of Bitcoin: a Synchrosqueezing Wavelet Transform to Predict Search Engine Query Trends. In KDWeb, (21). IEEE.

Tansey, O., 2011. Process tracing and elite interviewing: a case for non-probability sampling. PS: Political Science & Politics, 40(4), pp.765-772. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Trad, A. and Kalpi?, D., 2018. The Business Transformation and Enterprise Architecture Framework: The Financial Engineering Global Strategy. In Regaining Global Stability After the Financial Crisis (pp. 1-22). IGI Global.

Valente, A., Atkinson, D., and Clifford, J., 2018. CAN BITCOIN BE THE FUTURE OF DIGITAL PAYMENTS?. In Economic and Social Development (Book of Proceedings), 32nd International Scientific Conference on Economic and Social (p. 206). Springer, Cham.

Vasiljeva, T. and Lukanova, K., 2016. COMMERCIAL BANKS AND FINTECH COMPANIES IN THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE. Journal of Business Management, (11). IEEE.

Vassiliadis, S., Papadopoulos, P., Rangoussi, M., Konieczny, T. and Gralewski, J., 2017. Bitcoin value analysis based on cross-correlations. The Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce, pp.1-12. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

Yermack, D., 2015. Is Bitcoin a real currency? An economic appraisal. In Handbook of digital currency (pp. 31-43). IGI Global.