Analysis of Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer network for international payments

Abstract

The payment system is due for an overhaul. The antiquated infrastructure that runs the funds transfer network belongs to the pre-Internet era. As a result, international payments are expensive, slow, cumbersome, and not as secure as they could be. This thesis argues that the cryptocurrency Bitcoin is the answer to the problems facing millions of consumers, merchants, and remitters worldwide. The analysis is based on two frameworks. The first one is used to measure how well Bitcoin's attributes meet the needs of the users of the payment system. The second one is used to decide if the payments industry is likely to have one or more dominant platform leaders.