Blockchain’s Key Economic Impact: Verifying Transactions and Operating a Network
While many organizations are exploring the capabilities of blockchain technology, a pair of researchers argue that cryptocurrencies will affect two key costs in the economy: the cost of verifying transactions, and the cost of running a network, platform or marketplace. Their 30-page working paper, titled “Some Simple Economics of the Blockchain,” explains that blockchain technology lowers the cost of auditing transaction information and allows new marketplaces to emerge by enabling market participants to perform costless verification. The authors are Christian Catalini of MIT and Joshua....
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Allen Wei, the CEO of LBank exchange, told Cointelegraph that blockchain could contribute to the creation of a robust economy in Africa. As one of the most populated continents in the world, Africa continues to be an important target for blockchain proponents, as adoption in the region could have a significant impact on the broader crypto economy. In an interview with Cointelegraph, Allen Wei, the CEO of crypto exchange LBank, explained that blockchain can have a significant impact on Africa. Moreover, Wei highlighted that adoption within the region can have an effect on crypto and....
Bitcoin developers have been debating whether or not to increase the allowable block size to 20MB, as the network is struggling with verifying transactions now that volumes are growing. At the moment, there is a limit of 1MB per block, which limits the number of transactions that the network can handle per second. According to lead bitcoin developer Gavin Andresen, the best solution might be to develop a code that would allow for a larger block size. His proposal features a bitcoin hard fork that would allow any block with a timestamp on or after March 1, 2016 to be up to 20 megabytes.....
The air crackles with anticipation as the Bitcoin network hurtles towards its fourth halving event, expected within the next few hours. This pre-programmed phenomenon cuts the block reward for miners – the number of new Bitcoins generated for verifying transactions – in half. While some see it as a recipe for another digital gold rush, […]
The two big pieces of Bitcoin are the currency and the network. The Bitcoin network enables electronic payments, not such a big deal really, there are lots of payment systems. However the Bitcoin network lets you transfer money (bitcoins) in an incredibly efficient manner, and one which is not dependent on any central control or central point of failure. Each financial transaction is cheap, really really cheap. One logical extension of this efficient, inexpensive financial transaction network is the ability to create extremely small transactions. It is reasonable and feasible to create....