We analyze the Bitcoin protocol for electronic peer-to-peer payments and the operations that support the "blockchain" that underpins it. It is shown that the protocol maps formally into a dynamic game that is an extension of standard models of R&D racing. The model provides a technical...

We introduce a combinatorial abstraction of two person finite games in an oriented matroid. We also define a combinatorial version of Nash equilibrium and prove that an odd number of equilibria exists. The proof is a purely combinatorial rendition of the Lemke-Howson algorithm.