A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online
payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a
financial institution. Digital signatures provide part of the solution, but the main
benefits are lost if a trusted third party is still required to prevent double-spending.
We propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer network.
The network timestamps transactions by hashing them into an ongoing chain of
hash-based proof-of-work, forming a record that cannot be changed without redoing
the proof-of-work. The longest chain not only serves as proof of the sequence of
events witnessed, but proof that it came from the largest pool of CPU power. As
long as a majority of CPU power is controlled by nodes that are not cooperating to
attack the network, they'll generate the longest chain and outpace attackers. The
network itself requires minimal structure. Messages are broadcast on a best effort
basis, and nodes can leave and rejoin the network at will, accepting the longest
proof-of-work chain as proof of what happened while they were gone.
1. Introduction
Commerce on the Internet has come to rely almost exclusively on financial institutions serving as
trusted third parties to process electronic payments. While the system works well enough for
most transactions, it still suffers from the inherent weaknesses of the trust based model.
Completely non-reversible transactions are not really possible, since financial institutions cannot
avoid mediating disputes. The cost of mediation increases transaction costs, limiting the
minimum practical transaction size and cutting off the possibility for small casual transactions,
and there is a broader cost in the loss of ability to make non-reversible payments for nonreversible services. With the possibility of reversal, the need for trust spreads. Merchants must
be wary of their customers, hassling them for more information than they would otherwise need.
A certain percentage of fraud is accepted as unavoidable. These costs and payment uncertainties
can be avoided in person by using physical currency, but no mechanism exists to make payments
over a communications channel without a trusted party.
What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust,
allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted
third party. Transactions that are computationally impractical to reverse would protect sellers
from fraud, and routine escrow mechanisms could easily be implemented to protect buyers. In
this paper, we propose a solution to the double-spending problem using a peer-to-peer distributed
timestamp server to generate computational proof of the chronological order of transactions. The
system is secure as long as honest nodes collectively control more CPU power than any
cooperating group of attacker nodes.
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Dit is een stukje uit het Bitcoin whitepaper. Iemand zei in 2014 tegen me, dit moet je echt eens lezen. Toen ik het las ging er een lampje bij me branden... dit zou wel eens een disruptive technology kunnen worden (ik gebruik de term toch maar ofschoon onze IEX pensionado's er aanstoot aan schijnen te nemen). Een oplossing voor een bestaand probleem. Hoog risico, hoog rendement. Het netwerk effect deed de rest, zaken als dalende rentes en Elon Musk waren leuke hypes maar geen beslissende factoren. Dus om nou te suggereren dat Bitcoin houders alleen maar geluk hebben gehad gaat m.i. wat ver. Maar blijf vooral investeren in Europese aandelen waarvan de waarde allang het hoogste punt gezien heeft, dat getuigt wel echt van intelligentie... succes ermee. Ik zal niet op jullie forums komen roepen dat het allemaal niks waard is. Ik heb dat wel eens geprobeerd (trollen) maar voelde voor mij als onsympathieke tijdsverspilling.