Understanding Cryptocurrencies

Wolfgang Härdle, Campbell R. Harvey and Raphael Reule

No 2018-044, IRTG 1792 Discussion Papers from Humboldt University of Berlin, International Research Training Group 1792 "High Dimensional Nonstationary Time Series"

Abstract: Cryptocurrencies refer to a type of digital cash that use distributed ledger - or blockchain technology - to provide secure transactions. These currencies are generally misunderstood. While initially dismissed as fads or bubbles, many large central banks are considering launching their own version of national cryptocurrencies. In contrast to most data in nancial economics, there is a plethora of detailed (free) data on the history of every transaction for the cryptocurrency complex. Further, there is little empirically-oriented research on this new asset class. This is an extraordinary research opportunity for academia. We provide a starting point by giving an insight into cryptocurrency mechanisms and detailing summary statistics and focusing on potential future research avenues in nancial economics.

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Blockchain; Bitcoin; Economic bubbles; Peer-to-Peer; Cryptographic hashing; Consensus; Proof-of-Work; Proof-of-stake; Volatility (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C01 C58 E42 E51 G10 K24 K42 L86 O31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Understanding Cryptocurrencies (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:irtgdp:2018044

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