Paper 2014/076

Certified Bitcoins

Giuseppe Ateniese, Antonio Faonio, Bernardo Magri, and Breno de Medeiros

Abstract

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer (p2p) electronic cash system that uses a distributed timestamp service to record transactions in a public ledger (called the Blockchain). A critical component of Bitcoin’s success is the decentralized nature of its architecture, which does not require or even support the establishment of trusted authorities. Yet the absence of certification creates obstacles to its wider acceptance in e-commerce and official uses. We propose a certification system for Bitcoin that offers: a) an opt-in guarantee to send and receive bitcoins only to/ from certified users; b) control of creation of bitcoins addresses (certified users) by trusted authorities. Our proposal may encourage the adoption of Bitcoin in different scenarios that require an officially recognized currency, such as tax payments—often an integral part of e-commerce transactions.

Note: Revised version.

Metadata
Available format(s)
PDF
Category
Applications
Publication info
Published elsewhere. ACNS 2014
Keywords
applicationsbitcoinpublic-key cryptographyelliptic curve cryptosystem
Contact author(s)
bernardomagri21 @ gmail com
History
2014-04-03: revised
2014-02-04: received
See all versions
Short URL
https://ia.cr/2014/076
License
Creative Commons Attribution
CC BY

BibTeX

@misc{cryptoeprint:2014/076,
      author = {Giuseppe Ateniese and Antonio Faonio and Bernardo Magri and Breno de Medeiros},
      title = {Certified Bitcoins},
      howpublished = {Cryptology ePrint Archive, Paper 2014/076},
      year = {2014},
      note = {\url{https://eprint.iacr.org/2014/076}},
      url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/2014/076}
}
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