2015/08/18 by Gareth W. Peters, Peters, Gareth W., Efstathios Panayi +3
Business, Management and Accounting · Computer Science · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Banking stability, regulation, efficiency #Blockchain Technology Applications and Security #Computers and Society (cs.CY) #Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance #Cryptography and Security (cs.CR) #FOS: Computer and information sciences #FinTech, Crowdfunding, Digital Finance
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1508.04364
openalex publication_date 2015/08/18 · openalex created_date 2022/10/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The internet era has generated a requirement for low cost, anonymous and\nrapidly verifiable transactions to be used for online barter, and fast settling\nmoney have emerged as a consequence. For the most part, e-money has fulfilled\nthis role, but the last few years have seen two new types of money emerge.\nCentralised virtual currencies, usually for the purpose of transacting in\nsocial and gaming economies, and crypto-currencies, which aim to eliminate the\nneed for financial intermediaries by offering direct peer-to-peer online\npayments.\n We describe the historical context which led to the development of these\ncurrencies and some modern and recent trends in their uptake, in terms of both\nusage in the real economy and as investment products. As these currencies are\npurely digital constructs, with no government or local authority backing, we\nthen discuss them in the context of monetary theory, in order to determine how\nthey may be have value under each. Finally, we provide an overview of the state\nof regulatory readiness in terms of dealing with transactions in these\ncurrencies in various regions of the world.\n