Legalize Blockchain E-Book

Thomas G. Duenser

• Herausgeber: Books on Demand
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 257

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

In the last decades, digitalization has been enormously pushing innovation with a stunning impact on economy and society. In this book, the author illustrates that blockchain is one strong driver of the future digital economy, enabling a higher level of efficiency, trust, and legal security. As regulation can decide how a jurisdiction can participate in this development, the author discusses the current and future regulatory challenges and explains, why applying financial market laws for all Token Economy is not appropriate and would hinder its development. Consequently, he argues for a new regulatory fundament for Token Economy - as the Principality of Liechtenstein has introduced in 2020 - and explains the political regulatory decisions of the so-called »Blockchain-Act«. The author pleads also in favour of establishing a new regulatory framework for Token Financial Markets and drafts its cornerstones. In addition to that, he describes the need for an innovation process for the legal framework and emphasizes the importance of the innovation culture of governments and authorities to keep pace with the technological developments and ensure future prosperity.

Leseprobe

This book is dedicated

to all who see

change as a chance

to jointly realize

a better future.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Thomas G. Duenser is the director of the Office for Financial Market Innovation of the Principality of Liechtenstein. Since 2015, he has supported Fintech- and blockchain companies in legal and business framework questions. He was also responsible for developing and introducing the Liechtenstein »Blockchain Act«, the world's first comprehensive regulatory framework of the Token economy. Among others, his professional experience covers a leading position in a bank's treasury and financial risk management department. He holds a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

FOREWORD BY PRIME MINISTER ADRIAN HASLER

We are living in the age of digitalization. For many decades, we are all affected by technological innovation, whether we like it or not. Especially in the last 20 years, the speed of innovation has been increasing exponentially. The ability to innovate belongs to the core competencies of this century. But it is not only businesses affected, but also the legal framework and the work of authorities and governments. Especially in densely regulated sectors such as the financial markets, the ability to cope with innovation by the state is essential to foster economic development and future prosperity.

For this reason, I have introduced a governmental framework for innovation called »Impuls Liechtenstein«. Within this framework, we installed processes and resources that support innovative business. We have also initiated a cultural change within the authorities to enable innovation in Liechtenstein. With these measures, we want to contribute to maintaining prosperity and attractive jobs in Liechtenstein. This innovation framework was why an active Fintech community has evolved in Liechtenstein and why we were positioned to develop the first comprehensive regulatory framework for the Token economy.

We are living in an exciting but challenging time. The lecture of this book will help you understand Blockchain's legislation challenge and contribute to this very promising development, either from the regulation or business perspective.

Adrian Hasler, Prime Minister of Liechtenstein

CONTENT

1. Background Know-How about Bitcoin and Blockchain

1.1. Bitcoin

1.2. The Blockchain-Protocol

1.3. Functional Elements of Any Blockchain System

1.4. Further Generations of Blockchains

2. The Use of Blockchain

2.1. Blockchain as a Register Technology

2.2. The Main Innovation of Blockchain

2.3. Tokenization

2.4. Digital Contracts on Token Basis and Digital Identity

3. Token Economy

3.1. Concept

3.2. Use Cases of Token Economy

3.3. Token economy as a Worldwide Legal Transaction Layer

3.4. Functional Overview of the Token Economy

3.5. Architecture of the Token Economy

3.6. Blockchain-Systems Provided by the Government

4. Blockchain and the Banking System

4.1. The Banking System

4.2. Bitcoin as a Private Monetary System

4.3. Role of Digital Money in the Digital Economy

5. Blockchain and Financial Market Regulation

5.1. Banking Regulation and Token Economy

5.2. Securities Market Regulation and Token Economy

5.3. Investment Fund Regulation and Token Economy

5.4. Portfolio Management Regulation and Token Economy

6. Regulation of Blockchain and Token Economy

6.1. Goals of Regulation

6.2. Classification of Token

6.3. Regulation of the Token

6.4. Regulation of the Token Economy

6.5. Level of Regulation Regarding the Token Economy

6.6. Innovation of the Regulatory Framework

6.7. Token Financial Market Regulation

7. Blockchain and Prosperity

7.1. Token Economy, Innovation, and Investments

7.2. Access to Financial Services

8. Political Strategy Regarding Blockchain

9. Summary and Outlook

INTRODUCTION

Almost no other topic has been so intensively discussed in the last years as Blockchain: For some people, it is the solution to nearly everything. For others, it is an incorporation of evil. But we must be aware that Blockchain is »only« a technology. And as with every technology, it can be used for the good and the bad. It is, therefore, crucial to understand the power of this technology and its potential applications if we want to judge it fairly. This is especially important for representatives of a state since their decisions will define to a large extent how the applications of this technology can develop.

This book contributes to the ongoing discussions about the regulation of Blockchain.

Blockchain was introduced in 2008 for bitcoin, a private monetary system as a counter-model to the public monetary and banking system. In the last years, many further applications followed: The issuance of other digital money (called »cryptocurrencies«) or so-called »utility coins«, exchange and trading platforms of cryptocurrencies, bitcoin-ATMs, the use of cryptocurrencies for speculation reasons, the use of cryptocurrencies for financial services, the issuance of digital securities. Since most of the first applications are close to or in the financial market, an intensive discussion about applying financial market rules to the several applications of this new technology appeared. But as the blockchain-technology offers a new kind of efficient transaction system without intermediaries, some fundamental questions had to be answered. In addition, criminals soon started to misuse this technology for ransom payments, fraud, illegal transactions, and money laundering.

In the last few years, many countries have intensively discussed the current applications of Blockchain. From the perspective of a state, these first applications bear more risks and problems than positive aspects. So, Governments might naturally tend to focus on solving these problems and reducing the risks.

But blockchain technology also offers an entirely different scope of application. Blockchain enables a fascinating development in the context of the digitalization of the whole economy. It helps to solve one fundamental challenge of digitalization: to prevent digital information from being easily copied. This feature allows for a new level of digital business processes and legal transactions, combined with high legal security and efficiency. It might trigger one of the most important economic developments of the following decades, helping to create new business models, new business segments, and future prosperity and jobs. This scenario often is summarized under the term »Token Economy«.

A country's regulatory approach is crucial for further developing the Token economy in this jurisdiction. Regulation can hinder or can foster its development. Even the absence of regulation can hamper Token Economy because of the lack of legal certainty, especially regarding applying financial market laws. For prudent regulation decisions, it is crucial to see the full potential of blockchain technology.

In charge of supporting business innovation in the financial markets in the Ministry of Finance of Liechtenstein, I have come in close contact with concrete business applications of Blockchain in Liechtenstein at a relatively early stage. My colleagues and I have discussed with those pioneers their plans and how they are compatible with the regulatory framework. Because of those dialogues, we realized the potential of blockchain technology very soon. End of 2016, Prime Minister Adrian Hasler installed a working group to explore the chances and risks relating to Blockchain, which I was heading. The working group was composed of only initially six (and in a later stage, nine) experts from the private sector, government, financial market authority, and university, covering knowledge about Blockchain, Fintech, regulation, and law in general. As one result of this work, Liechtenstein introduced on January 2020 the so-called »Blockchain-Act«, the first comprehensive regulatory framework of the »Token-Economy«.

After several years of intensive discussions about the blockchain-technology, the token economy, and its legal framework, I have concluded that this technology will lead to a fundamental change in our Economy and financial market. Blockchain unleashes a strong power of innovation, touching almost all aspects of the digital economy. In my opinion, the positive applications are dominating potential negative use. Blockchain has not only a positive impact on economic growth and prosperity, but it also has a great potential to solve problems that the United Nations have formulated in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In other words, Blockchain can also help to create a better world, in my opinion.

As mentioned before, this book is intended to contribute to the current and future discussions about blockchain regulation. Finding the right way of regulating means involving several fields of knowledge: It is necessary to understand blockchain technology and the current and future applications of Blockchain in the general economy and the financial markets. Hence, it is necessary to understand the functioning and the scope of regulation of the financial markets and the banking system, to see the difference to typical blockchain applications and to find out if financial market regulation should be applied. I tried to cover all aspects necessary to understand the conclusions I propose in the book's main chapters. Some readers certainly already know the fundamentals. Please feel free to skip the related chapters. Others might wish to learn more in detail. To focus on the main chapters of this book, I had to restrict the scope of the fundamental chapters to the most important aspects. There are many excellent publications currently available for interested readers. Some chapters of this book also relate to the Liechtenstein »Blockchain-Act« and our experiences in the legislation process and explain the several strategic decisions we have made. This book is addressed to several groups of readers: First, it is written for all representatives of other Governments working on decisions about the legal framework. It should support them in their decision-making, helping them see blockchain technology's full potential. Second, it is addressed to all people interested in economic development. The book should help to understand the potential of Blockchain as well as to have an insight into the ongoing regulatory discussions. Third, this book is also written for the blockchain community members wanting to understand the perspective of the states, the financial market, and the banking system, as well as the legal framework. There might be some readers that are missing quotations. As this book is not intended as a scientific publication, I decided to refrain from quotations, as they usually do not increase the reading comfort. But I certainly do not want to claim that I am the »originator« of all information contained in this book, especially in the introduction chapters. This book is based on several years of intensive discussions with the blockchain community, regulators, and financial market participants. I consider it one of my roles to condense and translate this information so that readers without deep knowledge in one of the related fields have easier access to the essential discussions and can make their judgments. Furthermore, this fundament is necessary to understand the ideas and concepts I have developed in the main chapters of this book.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank all persons that have accompanied and supported me in the last years during the introduction of the innovation framework in Liechtenstein and the development of the »Blockchain Act«. It would take too much room to personally name all colleagues and entrepreneurs who have contributed to this development, particularly the »Blockchain Act« in Liechtenstein. However, I want to give a special and warm thanks to those who joined the working group »Blockchain« of the Government of Liechtenstein in 2016. Their knowledge and ability to share and develop the vision of a proper blockchain regulation laid the fundament of the later regulatory approach: Patrick Bont, Johann Gevers, Thomas Naegele, Thomas Nigg, and Peter Schnuerer. I also want to thank Hans Kuhn and Thomas Feldkircher for their outstanding contributions.

A special thank is dedicated to my family, especially to my wife Martina, who tolerated that I used my spare time to write this book, including inspiring discussions about all aspects of Blockchain and beyond.

1. BACKGROUND KNOW-HOW ABOUT BITCOIN AND BLOCKCHAIN

»Blockchain« was invented for the concept and the implementation of »bitcoin«. But Blockchain is much more than bitcoin. It is one core element of many interesting developments in the last decade. We will probably see them in the next decades, such as the Token Economy and Token Financial System. This chapter will summarize the essential aspects of Bitcoin and Blockchain to better understand the following chapters. Even if the basic concepts of Blockchain are relatively simple, the complexity of all technical details and different variations of blockchains is quite high. Somebody interested in all the various details can certainly spend time studying. As many excellent books about Bitcoin and Blockchain describe all technical details perfectly, there is no necessity to cover all details here again. I, therefore, focus on the most important elements and characteristics from the perspective of this book. Readers with knowledge about Blockchain may skip this chapter and start with the following chapter.

1.1. BITCOIN

Key Take-Aways

•

Bitcoin is an electronic cash and private money system accessible by private persons.

•

The Blockchain was invented for bitcoin.

The concept of bitcoin was published in a so-called whitepaper in 2008 by a pseudonym named Satoshi Nakamoto. It described the concept of a digital or electronic cash system, where private persons can send money to other private persons via the internet without using the payment infrastructure of the banking system. Nakamoto first had to solve a problem that is called the »double spend problem«. If we create digital cash, e.g., a digital banknote (it could also be a banknote issued by a central bank), we must ensure that the banknote may only be spent once. Otherwise, the value of the banknotes would rapidly decline. Nakamoto solved this problem by creating the blockchain protocol, which in principle, is a database for money transfers and ensures that the same money cannot be spent twice by the same person.

Another important part of the whitepaper on bitcoin covered the creation of private money (bitcoin). This money's value is not derived from any real-world value (e.g., gold) but by clear rules defined in software code. Those rules cover aspects like the maximum amount or how new money is created (»mining«).

Bitcoin is not only thought of as a counter-model to the banking transaction system. It can also be seen as a counter-model to central banks' money.

1.2. THE BLOCKCHAIN-PROTOCOL

Key Take-Aways:

•

The blockchain protocol was invented to prevent electronic cash from being spent twice and represents a transaction ledger.

•

The Blockchain uses several concepts, like encryption and distributed storage of the ledger, to provide a high level of security.

As mentioned above, the blockchain protocol was created as a register (or ledger) for digital money transfers to prevent double-spending money. For that purpose, all transactions are stored sequentially and – together with other transactions – sealed using cryptography technology. Those sets of sealed transactions are called »blocks«, so the sequence of many blocks can be seen as a chain of blocks or »blockchain«. In addition to the encryption of one block, a technical check figure (hash) is created that summarizes all transactions in one block and is put as a start to the next block. By that, manipulating a single transaction in the Blockchain would cause the whole Blockchain to be invalid. So, every try to manipulate a single transaction can only be successful if the whole chain is recalculated. Today, this seems almost impossible with the current computing power, but it might be possible with future super-computers such as quantum computers. In that case, the encryption technology used for encrypting blocks also has to emerge in future generations of the blockchain-technology.

The sealing of transaction blocks is provided by so-called »miners«, specialized computers or servers. This service is rewarded with new bitcoins. The mining process is technically and mathematically rather interesting, but as this is not necessary for this book, I will not further explain this. It is more important to know that creating new bitcoins is related to verifying and verifying transactions. In other words, with the creation of security.

Another interesting feature of the Blockchain is the distribution of one copy of the Blockchain to (almost) all participants of the bitcoin system (the so-called »nodes«). As everybody should have the same version of the Blockchain, it is possible to check if a money sender is an owner if the majority of copies prove this. To manipulate a transaction, someone must not only hack the encryption of the blocks and recalculate the whole Blockchain in their version. In addition, he or she must hack more than 50% of the participants' computers and exchange the Blockchain. So, the security of the system increases with the number of participants and the level of encryption used. Because of this characteristic, blockchain technology is called »Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)«. Every bitcoin-transaction is additionally encrypted by the initiator of a transaction.

By using all those methods, the quality and integrity of the Blockchain are ensured only by the software and the network's members. No, persons and no organization are needed to create »trust«. Therefore, bitcoin can provide a digital transaction system for money without intermediaries, such as a bank. This has to be seen in contrast to other secure databases and transaction systems, where a complex organization is usually necessary to provide this level of security. One example of such complex transaction systems is the digital payment infrastructure of banks, which we will analyze more in-depth later in this book.

The bitcoin blockchain is accessible to everyone, meaning everyone can read the ledger containing all transactions. Everybody can join the network and act in every role, such as »miner« or »node«. The bitcoin blockchain is therefore called »public« and »permissionless«. There are other forms of blockchains that do not allow all persons to act as »miners« (so-called »permissioned blockchains«) or read the ledger and act as a »node« (so-called »private blockchains«). In practice, all combinations can occur.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that the method of creating blocks and mining new bitcoin consumes a lot of energy. The energy consumption of the bitcoin blockchain relates to a specific mechanism to encrypt blocks when new bitcoins are generated. This mechanism is called »proof-of-work« and means that all miners compete in parallel to solve a mathematical problem only solvable by computing power and time. The fastest miner is finally rewarded with new bitcoins. In other words, bitcoin's energy consumption corresponds not only with the computing power needed to encrypt a new block but also with the computing power needed for decrypting the Blockchain. Therefore, energy consumption is necessary to ensure the security of the bitcoin blockchain. Other concepts are installed in further generations of blockchains, which consume less energy.

1.3. FUNCTIONAL ELEMENTS OF ANY BLOCKCHAIN SYSTEM

Key Take-Aways

•

The »Identifier« is the address to which coins or tokens are related.

•

A »Token« is the functional term of an element of a blockchain system that can be stored and transferred between »Identifiers«.

•

A »Key« is needed to initiate a »Token«-transfer. The »Key« is crucial for security reasons.

Blockchain systems do have a specific functional structure, which is necessary to understand. Since the first implementation of a blockchain system has been provided by bitcoin, there might be a risk of focusing only on one specific implementation. It is therefore important to see that the blockchain-technology will be further developing, and other technical implementations will occur. The basic functional elements should therefore be formulated technology neutrally.

In the bitcoin application, the digital »coin« takes center. This coin is always related to a kind of address. As the term »address« is related to a specific technical implementation, I prefer the term »Identifier« to cover all potential implementations. The identifier can principally be compared with the bank account number: With the information of the identifier of a counterparty, it is possible to send money.

The »coin« has not compellingly to be related as a whole to an identifier. It is also possible to relate fractions of one coin to an identifier so that the same coin in total is related to many identifiers. With bitcoin, such fragments are called »Satoshi« (one million satoshis represent one bitcoin).

As a »coin« is related to its use as digital money, the term »Token« is usually used to cover all possible applications of blockchain technology in the economy, as we will discover later in this book. In this book, I functionally use the term token to cover all elements of blockchain systems that can be stored and transferred, no matter the specific technical implementation. From a technical perspective, the term Token refers only to one specific implementation form.

The last important element of blockchain systems is the »key«. The key is needed in order to initiate a transaction, more precisely, to relate a token to another identifier. In the bitcoin blockchain, the »key« is usually called »private key», which refers to a specific kind of encryption (asymmetric encryption). As every blockchain technology – with or without asymmetric encryption – will need some form of »key« to initiate a token transfer, it is better to call it »key« or »token key«.

To initiate a transfer to a new identifier, the owner of the first identifier must sign the transaction using a »key«. The key is particularly important concerning security since only with this key, it is possible to dispose of tokens. If the key is lost, accessing the tokens is impossible. If other persons know the key, they can »steal« the tokens.

The combination of those three elements (»token«, »identifier«, and »key«) makes it possible that tokens can be possessed, respectively, owned and transferred. As the identifier does not identify the »owner« of the Token but is a technical feature necessary to relate a token to a person, the question of possession and ownership has to be clarified with the key. The person possessing the key can initiate a Token transfer or, in other words, dispose of the Token. Indirectly, this person is also »possessing« the Token.

1.4. FURTHER GENERATIONS OF BLOCKCHAINS

Key Take-Aways

•

The last decade has developed many new blockchain protocols with different properties.

•

Many further protocols can be expected in the future.

After implementing bitcoin successfully, many IT developers have been inspired and developing new generations of blockchains. One of the first and most popular new blockchains is the »Ethereum« blockchain, which also enables the concept of smart contracts (see chapter 2.4), with small software codes automatically enrolled. Meanwhile, many different blockchain-systems are existing, with manifold properties, like a higher transaction volume, lower energy consumption, and much more. This shows that the innovation potential still is remarkably high. We are still at the very beginning of this technological development.

2. THE USE OF BLOCKCHAIN

2.1. BLOCKCHAIN AS A REGISTER TECHNOLOGY

Key Take-Aways

•

It is possible to use blockchain technology for many different applications, not only for bitcoin.

•

Some use cases are not relevant from the perspective of the state.

As Blockchain was invented to securely store transaction records in a database, one of its possible applications is the use of a registry database. Since the blockchain-technology often is open source, it usually is free to use. In addition to that, in many cases, no dedicated internal server is necessary to run the database. The Blockchain can be run by using many distributed computers connected via the internet so that no cost-intensive server infrastructure is needed.

Beyond this, the main advantage of the Blockchain is the absence of people controlling and maintaining the integrity of the database. In traditional »centralized« databases, there is practically a possibility to manipulate an entry (for example, by the overall administrator role). In cases when the transaction register is important to be safe (like in the case of a bank or a stock exchange), an organizational control system is necessary to prevent manipulation. With a blockchain register, this is provided by technology itself. In short, using a blockchain register in many cases allows a low costs database technology (although depending on the energy consumption) with a high level of trust.

Consequently, blockchain registers are meaningful when the time, the order, and the content of transactions may not be manipulated and shall be proven to third parties. Blockchain registers may help to save organizational efforts. Using a blockchain register might also be a good solution if many parties from different organizations access a register, and all parties' trust in the register is important. This might be interesting in shipping goods or supply-chain management use cases. Many companies or organizations are currently implementing their services or processes using blockchain register technology.

Despite their innovation capacity, all those implementations driven by single organizations or a group of organizations that provide a dedicated service to other persons are not in general relevant from the point of view of a state. In such cases, the client and company's relationship is often clear and defined in contracts or client agreements. Therein, the Blockchain often has only the role of internal software, with no different impact on the client relation compared with other software technologies.

The much more relevant impact of blockchain technology is the application of open transaction systems where no provider is responsible for the quality of the service, and persons without direct legal relations are accessing this system. This is where the main innovation of the Blockchain becomes very visible and – where most discussion points from the perspective of a state appear, as I will explain in the next chapter.

2.2. THE MAIN INNOVATION OF BLOCKCHAIN

Key Take-Aways

•

Blockchain solves the problem of easy copying of digital information so that assets and other values can be stored and transferred digitally.

•

With Blockchain, digital information gets the characteristics of a physical item: It can be possessed and transferred like an object.

•

Everybody can own and transfer digital information without intermediaries for the first time.

•

The ability to store, possess and transfer digital information is the fundament of almost infinite applications in the digital economy, digital finance, digital law sector, sustainability, development cooperation, and so on.

The main innovation of the blockchain-technology is best explained from the perspective of digitalization. One of the central characteristics of digital information is the fact that it can be copied easily and without quality losses. This advantage has driven many innovations in the last decades relating to digital information, like email or the internet. But as soon as we come to information that is not thought to be shared or copied, this characteristic of digital information turns into the negative. The music industry, for example, has experienced many problems with digitalized music in the last three decades, just the possibility of easily compressing and sharing digital music. We face the same problems if we try digitizing money, shares, and other values.

Even though blockchain technology is simply a register technology, its properties allow for addressing the challenge of copying digital information. While an entry in other register technologies can be deleted or manipulated, the Blockchain prevents manipulation by technological measures.

This means that with blockchain technology, we can store digital information (generally defined as a sequence of digits) in a way that cannot be changed. Furthermore, we can securely relate this digital information to one »identifier«. The owner of the »key« relating to this »identifier« can dispose of this information and transfer it securely to another address.

In other words, with blockchain technology, digital information has a similar characteristic to a physical item or an object: It can be possessed like an object without any relation to a service provider and transferred from one person to another. At the same time, the sender cannot keep a copy. Blockchain technology, therefore, enables us to »objectivize« digital information, which means creating purely digital objects. This is especially relevant since this property is reached in a digital environment without any relation to a company or a service provider.

To illustrate this important step: With Blockchain, a digital document becomes a unique or original document that cannot be manipulated (so the system proves its originality) and cannot be copied. In the case of a letter, with Blockchain, it can be ensured that only the recipient has the original document. This is a fundamental difference to the email-system where a copy of every email is stored on every server involved in the transfer (and, by the way, can also be read by everybody). In the case of a curriculum vitae (CV), the applicant for a new job might be interested that this document is returned after the application process. With Blockchain, this could be reached by simply transferring a token. This person than can be sure that no copy is stored with this company or that the company can no longer read the document (depending on the implementation).

If we continue with the example of music: With Blockchain, digital music can also be stored in a way that only one person can listen to, and it is impossible to create a copy. Digital music combined with Blockchain is more comparable with a digital record. A record or a compact disk (CD) is not only a means to play music but also represents the right to listen to this music and was not easy to copy (at least in former times). This characteristic can now also be reached with Blockchain.

For the first time in the age of digitalization, it is now possible to »own« and transfer digital information directly to every person without an intermediary. By that, Blockchain enables a digital transaction system for digital information, original documents, and digital goods that are directly accessible by any person without an intermediary at a relatively low cost and a high security level.

This innovation driven by blockchain technology can be seen as one major step in digitalizing our economy or society. Without Blockchain, complicated processes and services organizations provide are necessary to securely store and transfer digital information. With the Blockchain, this is possible directly on the internet, without any organization necessary. This allows a completely new design of digital processes and the digital economy, with lower costs and higher security.

This kind of digital information stored in a blockchain system usually is called a »Token«. It illustrates this interesting property of being able to transfer digital information like a physical token. In the last chapter, I have already introduced the term »token«, which also covers all »coins«, such as bitcoin. With that, I want to emphasize that the scope of applications for the general tokens is much broader than for »coins«. As mentioned, the term »Token« does not necessarily relate to a technical feature but to a functional definition. For this book, it is important that the Token can be held and transferred like a physical item.

In this, we see the evolution of blockchain applications. Bitcoin was invented as a private monetary and money transaction system. One »bitcoin« refers to one piece of digital information related to one or