There are still many uncertainties with regard to whether virtual currencies will eventually replace fiat money or whether these two institutions will be functioning in tandem. Virtual currencies are still without legal tender status, but it is established that virtual currency can be utilised as a medium of exchange in circumstances where parties permit for its use. Moreover, this novel technological phenomenon engenders a myriad of risks and legal implications that are not comprehensively dealt with by regulators either locally or internationally. This dissertation investigates the risks associated with virtual currencies, the regulatory approaches taken by different jurisdictions as well as the prospects for virtual currency to function as a medium of exchange. / Mini Dissertation (LLM (Banking Law))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mercantile Law / LLM (Banking Law) / Unrestricted

Bakgrund: Riksbanken har haft sedelmonopol sedan 1897, vilket har inneburit att de sedan dess har haft ensamrätt att ge ut pengar. Den teknologiska utvecklingen och den ökade användningen av internet har lett till att virtuella samfund har utvecklats och i vissa fall har dessa samhällen skapat sin egen valuta. Bitcoin är världens första helt decentraliserade valuta och baserades i början av sin existens på teknisk nyfikenhet för en handfull hobbyister. Under de senaste åren har efterfrågan på bitcoins ökat vilket i sin tur har lett till att kursen stigit explosivartat.Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att kartlägga och analysera de transaktionskostnader som kan uppstå när Bitcoin används som betalningsmedel, samt jämföra dessa kostnader med de transaktionskostnader som är förenade med användandet av traditionella betalningsmedel. Genomförande: Studien har genomförts genom en blandning av ett kvalitativt och ett kvantitativt tillvägagångssätt samt genom en bearbetning av transaktionskostnadsteorin inom ramen för ny institutionell teori. Empirin består av tre delar där studien inleds med en litteraturstudie för att läsaren ska få en inblick i vad Bitcoin är och hur valutan fungerar. Därefter presenteras det kvalitativa angreppssättet i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer och avslutningsvis presenteras studiens kvantitativa angreppsätt i form av en enkätstudie för att kartlägga användandet av bitcoin.Slutsats: Studien visar att transaktionskostnaderna för Bitcoin är högre än för traditionella betalningsmedel i och med att valutan i dagsläget är beroende av den traditionella infrastrukturen för betalningar samt att dess användare därutöver frånsäger sig det skyddsnät som traditionella betalningsmedel omfattas av. För att Bitcoin ska bli ett etablerat betalningsmedel krävs det att de grundläggande funktionerna för pengar uppfylls. Något som studien visar är bristfälligt i nuläge / Background: The Swedish central bank has had a currency monopoly since 1897, which has meant that they since then have had exclusive right to issue money. Technological advances and the increasing use of the Internet has led to an evolvement of virtual communities and in some cases these communities created their own currency. Bitcoin is the worlds first fully decentralized currency. In the beginning the currency was based on technological curiosity to a handful of hobbyists. In recent years demand for bitcoins has increased, which has led to a dramatic price increase.Aim: The purpose of this thesis is to identify and analyze the transaction costs that may arise when Bitcoin is used as means of payment, and to compare these costs with the transaction costs associated with the use of traditional means of payment. Completion: The study was conducted through a mixture of qualitative and quantitative approaches as well as a processing of the transaction cost theory in the context of new institutional theory. The empirical material consists of three parts in which the study begins with a literature review for the reader to get a glimpse of what Bitcoin is and how the currency works. The qualitative approach is in the form of semi-structured interviews and finally the study's quantitative approach is presented in the form of a questionnaire to survey the use of bitcoin.Conclusion: The study shows that Bitcoins transaction costs are higher than conventional means of payments when account is taken to the fact that the currency is dependent on the current financial structure. The user furthermore disclaims the safety net that traditional means of payments offer. For Bitcoin to become an established means of payment it requires that the basic functions of money are fulfilled which the study shows is inadequate.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka Bitcoins egenskaper och funktioner samt diskutera dess eventuella påverkan på dagens ekonomiska system. Den forskning som publicerats på ämnet undersöker främst tekniska och säkerhetsmässiga detaljer, det är därför intressant att analysera ur en ekonomisk synvinkel. Genom att använda makroekonomisk teori ska jag försöka klargöra om Bitcoin kan konkurrera med dagens valutor. Bitcoins volatilitet i värde gör det tvivelaktigt, en volatilitet som inte kan kontrolleras. Bitcoin uppfyller delar av de funktioner och egenskaper som definierar en valuta enligt makroekonomisk teori, men inte lika många som fiatpengar och Bitcoin bör därför inte kunna konkurrera med dagens valutor. Fiatpengar är att föredra även i andra områden som acceptans och säkerhet. Bitcoin är bättre ur ett kostnadsperspektiv, dock under specifika omständigheter som sällan uppfylls. Bitcoin kommer därför tills vidare fungera som ett alternativ betalningssystem och valuta för personer och företag som är villiga att ta de risker som medföljer. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate Bitcoins attributes and functions and discuss its effect on today’s economic system. The academic work that been published on the subject investigate technical and safety aspects, it is therefore interesting to analyse from a macroeconomic point of view. By using macroeconomic theory I will try to clarify if Bitcoin can compete with today’s currencies. Bitcoins volatility in value makes it doubtful. Bitcoins volatility in value makes it questionable, a volatility that cannot be controlled. Bitcoin meet part of the functions and characteristics that define a currency as macroeconomic theory, but not as many as fiatmoney and should therefore not be able to compete with today's currencies. Fiatmoney is preferable also in other areas such as acceptance and security. Bitcoin is better from a cost perspective, but under specific circumstances that are rarely met. Bitcoin will therefore until further serve as an alternative payment system and currency individuals and companies that are willing to take the risks included.

The main objective of this diploma thesis is to find out the potential of digital currencies to replace contemporary fiat currency. Specifically, the thesis is focused on cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which currently has the highest market value. The thesis is divided into three main chapters. The first one focuses on money itself and its function, not only today but also throughout the history. Second chapter explains substance and functioning of Bitcoin, as well as its role in the current monetary system. Likewise the question of regulatory measures and competition of altcoins is being examined. Final part analyses the future of digital currencies and it compares pros and cons of Bitcoin and money we use today. Furthermore, it is discussed whether Bitcoin is the next bubble in the financial market. In the end, main problems which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies deal with are mentioned and a possible future development is outlined.

The thesis deals with methods for analysis of financial markets, focused on cryptocurrencies. The theoretical part, in a context of virtual currencies, describes block-chain technology, financial indicators and neural networks with recurrent architectures. Main goal is to create a system for giving a recommendation either for buy, or sell the currency. The system consists of designed financial strategy and predicted value of the currency, for which is used financial indicators and LSTM neural network. Tests were performed on Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum historical data from year 2017.

AbstractThe European Central Bank defines virtual currencies as ”unregulated, digital money, which is issued and usuallycontrolled by its developers, and used and accepted among the members of a specific virtual community.”(European Central Bank, 2012, p. 5) The interest in virtual currencies has increased immensely over the last fewyears as they become increasingly prevalent in our society across many different industries. Up until now, the field ofvirtual currencies has been mainly uncharted land and despite interest in specific currencies, few attempts havebeen made at understanding or structuring the entire landscapeThe main research question in this thesis is related to the previously mentioned dilemma: understanding andstructuring the virtual currency ecosystem, today and in the future. How can the virtual currency landscape currentlybe analyzed in a structured manner and what framework can be used to reflect and make predictions on the futuredevelopment?The thesis is based on four different sources of information: a literature study of existing material, corporateinterviews with companies dealing with virtual currencies and consumer interviews with potential early adopters, anonline survey and a case study performed at Ericsson M-Commerce. The case study of Ericsson M-Commerce hasprovided valuable insight into understanding how companies reason when considering adopting virtual currenciesinto their product portfolio and greatly helped the process of structuring the virtual currency market in acomprehensive manner. In return, the thesis has also provided decision material for the department concerningvirtual currencies.This thesis divides virtual currencies into five groups: Prepaid Value, Loyalty Points, Monetization Currencies, GamingCurrencies and Value Encoded Currencies. This model has been developed as a framework for the analysis of thecurrent situation in this thesis. However, the analysis in the thesis has shown that as virtual currencies evolve, it willprobably become more relevant to instead consider their functions. It is likely that virtual currencies will consolidateinto three distinct functional types: virtual currency as a unit of account, virtual currency as a business model formonetization, and virtual currencies as a product that can be sold.As virtual currencies evolve, the future is not only filled with many challenges, but also many new opportunities. Inthis thesis, an attempt to gain an abstract understanding of how the field is developing has been made, but it remains to be seen what the real impacts of virtual currencies will be as they continue to gain traction.

Background: This paper analyses the influence of fluctuation in gold market on bitcoin prices. Based on previous studies, in present market conditions, volatility in gold prices have caused price changes in several other major assets in the market, such as crude oil. Gold fluctuations are likely to stimulate uncertainty in some other major assets. As bitcoin is becoming an alternative tool to hedge against inflation likewise to gold, the degree of uncertainty in bitcoin market is relatively high. Therefore, the study of causal relationship between gold and bitcoin markets has become appropriate since bitcoin has tremendous growth in its returns and shares many similarities with gold. Thereupon, this study reveals the evidence of Granger causality regression in different time spans to understand the relationship between gold and bitcoin. This relationship is beneficial to study since Granger causality hypothesis acknowledges whether gold’s historical prices are useful for forecasting the bitcoin market. Purpose: This study aims to analyze the relationship between gold and bitcoin market during an 8-year period from 2014 and 2022. Throughout this period, time spans which involves financial crises have been separated from the data set and tested separately to determine if there is a constant relationship between the variables. Through this, it has been intended to find the Granger causality link between gold and bitcoin market to see whether one is leading another one. Identifying the Granger causality correlation helps analyzing the patterns of correlation by using the empirical datasets, and to determine the strength of the Granger causal relationship’s nature between gold and bitcoin. Since the correlation itself does not explain why or how, but only if both markets move together, the Granger causality correlation between gold and bitcoin is the quantification of the impact that gold market performance has on bitcoin’s future price performance. Method: Since the collected data is time-series data, Augmented Dickey-Fuller tests have been conducted initially to the chosen tests. Following the results from ADF tests, Spearman’s Rho, iand Johansen’s Cointegration tests have been utilized to determine the long-term correlation between variables. Thereafter, Toda & Yamamoto and Dolado & Lütkepohl Granger Causality (TYDL-GC) method has been used to analyze the Granger causality link between the variables. Conclusion: The results of this study indicates that (i) no statistically significant correlation between gold and bitcoin market has been found according to the Spearman’s Rho test results, (ii) no long-term relationship has been found between gold and bitcoin according to cointegration test, (iii) gold does Granger Cause bitcoin prices. The evidence of causality link is unilateral from gold towards bitcoin market. Furthermore, it was observed that the Granger causality link weakens in short term and is not constant over time. The results fail to support the semi strong Efficient Market Hypothesis form. Thus, gold and bitcoin’s markets are efficient in the weak form but inefficient in the semi strong form. Since Granger causality has been found from gold towards bitcoin, one can construct a prediction model for bitcoin by using gold’s historical prices.

As consumer payment services have been developed at a rapid rate in recent years, the introduction to the market of decentralised, non-regulated cryptocurrencies has enabled a significant increase in acts of criminality in the cyber environment. Efforts to combat and curb the continued growth of such illicit activities have included the development, implementation and enforcement of legislation and regulations by governing authorities on a global scale. For the purpose of this thesis, interviews were conducted with several industry experts and governmental officials specializing in the use of virtual currencies for illicit financial transactions, namely fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. While the extent to which decentralised, non-regulated payment services actually contributes to illicit financial transactions remains unclear, it can certainly be said that as the use of new and emerging virtual currencies increases, so too will acts of criminality in the cyber world.

Alternatyvių atsiskaitymų e. versle sistemos pradeda kelti rimtą grėsmę tradiciniams atsiskaitymams elektronine bankininkyste, mokėjimo kortelėmis ar grynaisiais pinigais. Todėl būtina detaliau išsiaiškinti kokie yra alternatyvių atsiskaitymų ypatumai, kurie veiksniai vartotojams yra svarbiausi ir kokie yra alternatyvūs atsiskaitymo būdai. Tai siekiama padaryti išanalizuojant mokslinę literatūrą, pateikiant pagrindines alternatyvių atsiskaitymų sistemas, atliekant alternatyvių atsiskaitymų palyginamąją analizę ir vartotojų bei verslo subjektų naudojimosi alternatyviais atsiskaitymais ypatumų tyrimą. Tyrime ir darbe naudojami įvairūs mokslinės analizės metodai. Įvairios mokslinės literatūros, leidinių, straipsnių, naujienų ir kitų tyrimų ir šaltinių teorinė analizė. Įvairi statistika paimta iš įvairių statistiką renkančių tinklalapių bei institucijų, bei atliktas nestandartinis empirinis tyrimas anketinė apklausa ir tirta tikslinė internetinė bendruomenė, kuri naudojasi alternatyviais atsiskaitymais. Šiuo tyrimu siekiama atskleisti alternatyvių atsiskaitymų ypatumus ir tendencijas. Darbo rezultatai teigia, jog pagrindinės naudojamos sistemos yra PayPal, Mokėjimai.lt, Skrill, WebMoney, BitCoin ir kitos anonimiškumu pasižymėjusios nebeveikiančios sistemos (E-Gold, LibertyReserve ir kt.). Respondentai renkasi alternatyvius atsiskaitymo metodus atsiskaitant gyvenime ir perkant internetinėje parduotuvėje, jei tik yra tokia galimybė. Taip pat galima daryti išvadą, jog respondentai... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / Alternative payments in e. business begin to pose a serious threat to the traditional payments such as electronic banking, credit and debit cards or cash. Therefore, it is necessary to find out what are the features of alternative payment methods, which factors are the most important and what are the trends. All this work is done by analyzing the scientific literature, introducing main alternative payment systems, making the alternative payment system comparative analysis and making a survey of consumer and business use of the alternative payment system features and trends. There are various techniques used in this study. Theoretical analysis is done in the use of various scientific literatures, publications, articles, news and other sources of research papers. Various statistics are taken from various websites and other sources. The study includes a non-standard empirical survey on target group of the online community, which uses alternative payment systems. This study aims to reveal the alternative payment features and trends. The results display that the main system used are PayPal, Mokėjimai.lt, Skrill, WebMoney, BitCoin and other distinguished defunct anonymous systems (E-gold, LibertyReserve, etc.). Respondents prefer alternative methods when buying in e. shop if there is only such a possibility. It can also be concluded that the respondents are more likely to give up banks and their payment methods rather than cash payments. Respondents also notice that the use of... [to full text]

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