We make a distinction between centralized, decentralized, and distributed payment mechanisms. A centralized payment mechanism processes a transaction using a trusted third party. A decentralized payment mechanism processes a transaction between the parties to the transaction. A distributed...

Bitcoin is a relatively new technology with much promise. As the world's first successful cryptocurrency, it seems likely to lower the costs of transacting. Nonetheless, many regulators hold a strong presumption that something must be done. I considered the popular justifications for regulating...

We employ a monetary model with endogenous search and random consumption preferences to consider the extent to which governments can ban bitcoin. We define a ban as a policy whereby government agents refuse to accept bitcoin and mete out punishments to private agents caught using it. After...

We maintain that the crypto-currency bitcoin is a practical application of what is termed “memory” in the monetary economics literature. After reviewing the theoretical literature on money and memory, we offer a brief overview of the bitcoin protocol and argue that, like memory, bitcoin...