THE LAW OF BITCOIN is the definitive guide to navigating the rules in the dynamic world of cryptocurrency. This book is the first of its kind delving into cryptocurrency law in four jurisdictions: Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Written by knowledge leaders in the legal cryptocurrency space, THE LAW OF BITCOIN addresses such topics as the intersection of cryptocurrencies and criminal law, taxation, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations, securities law, consumer protection, negotiable instruments, currency law, and financial regulation. THE LAW OF BITCOIN will be a leading resource and go-to text both for those wishing to understand the basics of how the law affects cryptocurrency and for those in the legal community searching for sophisticated answers to more advanced questions. "It is unique because the authors concisely and objectively explain how Bitcoin and bitcoin are lawfully viewed. They provide relevant, up-to-date clarity in a space that is often nebulous, confusing and filled with conflicting partisan information. The authors arrive at what will likely be unpopular conclusions that are only possible because they are not seeking to defend special interest groups. This includes issues such as fungibility which is handled in a manner that flips the conventional narrative within the Bitcoin community on its head, yet is important for any entrepreneur, developer, investor and user in the nascent space. THE LAW OF BITCOIN is a helpful guide to novices and veterans alike." -Tim Swanson, author of THE ANATOMY OF A MONEY-LIKE INFORMATIONAL COMMODITY and GREAT CHAIN OF NUMBERS

“Blockchains will matter crucially; this book, beautifully and clearly written for a wide audience, powerfully demonstrates how.” —Lawrence Lessig “Attempts to do for blockchain what the likes of Lawrence Lessig and Tim Wu did for the Internet and cyberspace—explain how a new technology will upend the current legal and social order... Blockchain and the Law is not just a theoretical guide. It’s also a moral one.” —Fortune Bitcoin has been hailed as an Internet marvel and decried as the preferred transaction vehicle for criminals. It has left nearly everyone without a computer science degree confused: how do you “mine” money from ones and zeros? The answer lies in a technology called blockchain. A general-purpose tool for creating secure, decentralized, peer-to-peer applications, blockchain technology has been compared to the Internet in both form and impact. Blockchains are being used to create “smart contracts,” to expedite payments, to make financial instruments, to organize the exchange of data and information, and to facilitate interactions between humans and machines. But by cutting out the middlemen, they run the risk of undermining governmental authorities’ ability to supervise activities in banking, commerce, and the law. As this essential book makes clear, the technology cannot be harnessed productively without new rules and new approaches to legal thinking. “If you...don’t ‘get’ crypto, this is the book-length treatment for you.” —Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution “De Filippi and Wright stress that because blockchain is essentially autonomous, it is inflexible, which leaves it vulnerable, once it has been set in motion, to the sort of unforeseen consequences that laws and regulations are best able to address.” —James Ryerson, New York Times Book Review

An authoritative introduction to the exciting new technologies of digital money Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies provides a comprehensive introduction to the revolutionary yet often misunderstood new technologies of digital currency. Whether you are a student, software developer, tech entrepreneur, or researcher in computer science, this authoritative and self-contained book tells you everything you need to know about the new global money for the Internet age. How do Bitcoin and its block chain actually work? How secure are your bitcoins? How anonymous are their users? Can cryptocurrencies be regulated? These are some of the many questions this book answers. It begins by tracing the history and development of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, and then gives the conceptual and practical foundations you need to engineer secure software that interacts with the Bitcoin network as well as to integrate ideas from Bitcoin into your own projects. Topics include decentralization, mining, the politics of Bitcoin, altcoins and the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the future of Bitcoin, and more. An essential introduction to the new technologies of digital currency Covers the history and mechanics of Bitcoin and the block chain, security, decentralization, anonymity, politics and regulation, altcoins, and much more Features an accompanying website that includes instructional videos for each chapter, homework problems, programming assignments, and lecture slides Also suitable for use with the authors' Coursera online course Electronic solutions manual (available only to professors)

As the world’s first decentralized digital currency, Bitcoin has the potential to revolutionize online payments systems in a way that benefits consumers and businesses. Instead of using an intermediary such as PayPal or submitting credit card information to a third party for verification—both of which often include transaction fees and other restrictions—Bitcoin allows individuals to pay each other directly for goods or services. The characteristics that make Bitcoin so innovative have also made it a target for regulators, who fear that the cryptocurrency will aid tax evasion, money laundering, and other crimes. While it is true that it can be used for nefarious purposes, the same can be said of cash. But, unlike cash, Bitcoin transactions are recorded in an online ledger. In this new primer published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Jerry Brito and Andrea Castillo describe how the digital currency works and address many of the common misconceptions about it. They also analyze current laws and regulations that may already cover digital currencies and warn against preemptively placing regulatory restrictions on Bitcoin that could stifle the new technology before it has a chance to evolve. In addition, they give several recommendations about how to treat Bitcoin going forward. Here, at the forefront of the debate, Brito and Castillo both support innovation and provide much-needed clarity for policymakers and law enforcement. A Spanish edition of this book is also available from the Mercatus Center.

This key textbook examines the financial growth and success of digital assets in the contemporary economy. As digital assets and other blockchain applications mature, and regulatory authorities work hard to keep pace, three leading attorneys in the field invite students to consider the legal frameworks pertinent to regulating this new method of exchange. In this, the first textbook of its kind, the authors explore the growth of smart contracts, the application of securities laws to token sales, the regulation of virtual currency businesses, the taxation of digital assets and the intersection of digital assets and criminal law.

Bicoin Anwered breaks down the scope of Bitcoin, digital currencies, and blockchain, and provides an understanding of Bitcoin from a technical, historical, and conceptual standpoint, all in a simplistic and visual-backed manner.

Discover Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that has the finance world buzzing Bitcoin is arguably one of the biggest developments in finance since the advent of fiat currency. With Understanding Bitcoin, expert author Pedro Franco provides finance professionals with a complete technical guide and resource to the cryptography, engineering and economic development of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. This comprehensive, yet accessible work fully explores the supporting economic realities and technological advances of Bitcoin, and presents positive and negative arguments from various economic schools regarding its continued viability. This authoritative text provides a step-by-step description of how Bitcoin works, starting with public key cryptography and moving on to explain transaction processing, the blockchain and mining technologies. This vital resource reviews Bitcoin from the broader perspective of digital currencies and explores historical attempts at cryptographic currencies. Bitcoin is, after all, not just a digital currency; it's a modern approach to the secure transfer of value using cryptography. This book is a detailed guide to what it is, how it works, and how it just may jumpstart a change in the way digital value changes hands. Understand how Bitcoin works, and the technology behind it Delve into the economics of Bitcoin, and its impact on the financial industry Discover alt-coins and other available cryptocurrencies Explore the ideas behind Bitcoin 2.0 technologies Learn transaction protocols, micropayment channels, atomic cross-chain trading, and more Bitcoin challenges the basic assumption under which the current financial system rests: that currencies are issued by central governments, and their supply is managed by central banks. To fully understand this revolutionary technology, Understanding Bitcoin is a uniquely complete, reader-friendly guide.

Bitcoin first appeared in 2009, and it's already challenging everything we've come to accept about money, financial institutions, and even government. The digital currency can be nearly anonymous. And it can be traded internationally—without the fees, government regulation, and bank oversight of paper money. But Bitcoin is still risky. Its value fluctuates wildly. More than $400 billion of it disappeared overnight with the fall of a single trading exchange. How is that possible? And why is it so popular? CNNMoney reporter Jose Pagliery explains it all. He details the digital currency's mysterious origins. He explores the dark side of Bitcoin: a world of drugs and assassins for hire. And he examines the economic impact of this revolutionary concept through interviews with pensive economists, wary bank regulators, and free market proponents such as Ron Paul. Bitcoin: And the Future of Money explains how it works and why it matters. The book is essential reading for anyone looking to understand a financial innovation that will forever change how we think about money.

The materials in this book are designed to look at cryptoassets and the expanding world of cryptotransactions to examine how the regulatory regime surrounding these interests is developing. Because the regulatory reaction to crypto is still in the early stages, it is not really possible to create a traditional casebook that focuses only on settled judicial opinions to illustrate relevant legal issues and rules. These materials therefore look at various statutes, rules, and regulatory structures that predate the advent of crypto along with mission and informational statements promulgated by the agencies most closely involved with regulation of cryptotransactions.

Cryptoassets represent one of the most high profile financial products in the world, and fastest growing financial products in history. From Bitcoin, Etherium and Ripple's XRP-so called "utility tokens" used to access financial services-to initial coin offerings that in 2017 rivalled venture capital in money raised for startups, with an estimated $5.6 billion (USD) raised worldwide across 435 ICOs. All the while, technologists have hailed the underlying blockchain technology for these assets as potentially game changing applications for financial payments and record-keeping. At the same time, cryptoassets have produced considerable controversy. Many have turned out to be lacklustre investments for investors. Others, especially ICOs, have also attracted noticeable fraud, failing firms, and alarming lapses in information-sharing with investors. Consequently, many commentators around the world have pressed that ICO tokens be considered securities, and that concomitant registration and disclosure requirements attach to their sales to the public. This volume assembles an impressive group of scholars, businesspersons and regulators to collectively write on cryptoassets. This volume represents perspectives from across the regulatory ecosystem, and includes technologists, venture capitalists, scholars, and practitioners in securities law and central banking.