Cryptocurrencies are often thought to operate out of the reach of national regulation, but in fact their valuations, transaction volumes and user bases react substantially to news about regulatory actions. The impact depends on the specific regulatory category to which the news relates: events...

Virtual currencies are a contemporary form of private money. Thanks to their technological properties, their global transaction networks are relatively safe, transparent, and fast. This gives them good prospects for further development. However, they remain unlikely to challenge the dominant...

The rapid development of information and communication technology has brought many activities of our daily lives online, making them more flexible and effective. The significant increase in the number of online users has activated the concept of virtual worlds and created cryptocurrencies, a new...

The paper presents a survey of central bank digital currency (CBDC) adoption in African countries. Secondary data based on desk research were used to conduct the survey. Data for each African country were collected from publicly available information about each country’s interest and efforts...

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) promise to provide cash-like safety and convenience for peer-to-peer payments. To do so, they must be resilient and accessible. They should also safeguard the user's privacy, while allowing for effective law enforcement. Different technical designs satisfy...

Bitcoin is the oldest and most widely established cryptocurrency network with the highest market capitalization among all cryptocurrencies. Although bitcoin (with lowercase b) is increasingly viewed as a digital asset belonging to a new asset class, the Bitcoin network (with uppercase B) is a...

Cryptocurrencies have entered the economy as alternative money, as speculation objects, and as utility tokens for innovative service-platforms. Cryptocurrencies are increasingly scrutinized by regulators, and the literature on the regulation of cryptocurrencies is emerging. In this paper, it is...

Some policymakers and scholars view cryptocurrencies as conduits of illegality and fraud, which therefore should be tightly regulated. Others warn that regulation could simply cause trading activity to cross borders into less-regulated jurisdictions—or even smother a promising new financial...

This paper discusses the economics of how Bitcoin achieves data immutability, and thus payment finality, via costly computations, ie "proof-of-work". Further, it explores what the future might hold for cryptocurrencies modelled on this type of consensus algorithm. The conclusions are, first,...

Cryptocurrencies have entered the economy as alternative money, as speculation objects, and as utility tokens for innovative service-platforms. Cryptocurrencies are based on cryptography-based asset disposals validated by decentralized operators of distributed ledgers according to consented...