| Description |
1 online resource (xvii, 83 pages) : color illustrations, color chart |
| Series |
Rand Corporation research report series ; RR-1231-OSD |
|
Research report (Rand Corporation) ; RR-1231-OSD.
|
| Contents |
Ch. 1: Introduction -- ch. 2: The current state of virtual currencies -- ch. 3: Can virtual currencies increase political power? -- ch. 4: Technical challenges to virtual currency deployment -- ch. 5: Implications beyond currency -- ch. 6: Conclusions and future research-- Appendix: Rating cyber threat sophistication by tiers |
|
Preface -- Summary -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Chapter One: Introduction: Approach -- Chapter Two: The Current State of Virtual Currencies: The Evolution to Virtual Currencies -- Origins and Trends of Virtual Currencies -- Early Systems -- Bitcoin -- Virtual Currencies After Bitcoin: Altcoins -- Authority (De)centralization and Implications for Virtual Currency Design -- Virtual Currencies and Non-State Actors -- Chapter Three: Can Virtual Currencies Increase Political Power?: Non-State Currencies Emerge When State Currencies Do Not Meet Groups' Needs -- Non-State Currencies Are Not Likely to Be VCs Now But Could Be VCs in the Future -- Chapter Four: Technical Challenges to Virtual Currency Deployment: Developing and Deploying a Virtual Currency: Developing Software for a Virtual Currency -- Physically Deploying a Virtual Currency -- Deployment Challenges for Decentralized Virtual Currencies -- Virtual Currencies, Adoption, and Value -- Ensuring Anonymity of Currency Use: Anonymity Versus Virtual Currency Centralization -- "Anonymity": A Bitcoin Case Study -- Some New Altcoins Build in Anonymous Transactions -- Cyber Threats to Virtual Currencies: Attacks Used by Tier I and Tier II Opponents -- Attacks Used by Tier III and Tier IV Opponents -- Attacks Used by Tier V and Tier VI Opponents -- The Possibility of Successful Defense -- Chapter Five: Implications Beyond Currency: Block-Chain Technology and Distributed Consensus -- Virtual Currencies Increase Cryptographic Sophistication -- Virtual Currencies and the Trend Toward Resilient, Decentralized Cyber Services -- Toward Resilient, Public Cyber Key Terrain -- Chapter Six: Conclusions and Future Research: For Future Research -- Appendix: Rating Cyber Threat Sophistication by Tiers -- References |
| Summary |
"This report examines the feasibility for non-state actors, including terrorist and insurgent groups, to increase their political and/or economic power by deploying a virtual currency (VC) for use in regular economic transactions. A VC, such as Bitcoin, is a digital representation of value that can be transferred, stored, or traded electronically and that is neither issued by a central bank or public authority, nor necessarily attached to a fiat currency (dollars, euros, etc.), but is accepted by people as a means of payment. We addressed the following research questions from both the technological and political-economic perspectives: (1) Why would a non-state actor deploy a VC? That is, what political and/or economic utility is there to gain? How might this non-state actor go about such a deployment? What challenges would it have to overcome? (2) How might a government or organization successfully technologically disrupt a VC deployment by a non-state actor, and what degree of cyber sophistication would be required? (3) What additional capabilities become possible when the technologies underlying the development and implementation of VCs are used for purposes broader than currency?"--Publisher's web site |
| Notes |
Series from web site |
|
"National Defense Research Institute." |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 73-83) |
| Notes |
Online resource; title from PDF title page (RAND, viewed December 22, 2015) |
| Subject |
Electronic funds transfers -- Political aspects
|
|
National security -- Economic aspects
|
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COMPUTERS -- Internet -- General.
|
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National security -- Economic aspects
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| Author |
National Defense Research Institute (U.S.), issuing body.
|
|
Rand Corporation, publisher.
|
| ISBN |
9780833093691 |
|
083309369X |
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