Analyzing Cryptocurrencies

Xiaofan Li () and Andrew B. Whinston ()
Additional contact information
Xiaofan Li: University of Texas at Austin
Andrew B. Whinston: University of Texas at Austin

Information Systems Frontiers, 2020, vol. 22, issue 1, No 3, 17-22

Abstract: Abstract Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, have been an important factor in some economic activities. For example, Bitcoin is the main payment method for ransomware attackers and retailers on the Darknet. It is therefore useful to understand the features of cryptocurrencies and their economic implications. In this research, we use bitcoin, Ether, and XRP, the three cryptocurrencies with the highest market values as of this writing, as well as Libra, which is forthcoming and topical, as examples to analyze their features. Specifically, we argue that these cryptocurrencies are fundamentally different due to differences in the following factors: the identity management of their ledger writers, their consensus algorithms, and their coin supply. We discuss how these factors determine cryptocurrency performance, including security, privacy, and financial influence. We also discuss potential research topics around these cryptocurrencies that are still open.

Keywords: Blockchain; Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; XRP; Ether; Libra (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10796-019-09966-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:infosf:v:22:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1007_s10796-019-09966-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/10796

DOI: 10.1007/s10796-019-09966-2

Access Statistics for this article

Information Systems Frontiers is currently edited by Ram Ramesh and Raghav Rao

More articles in Information Systems Frontiers from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().