Bitcoin Forum

Hello, all.  I am attempting to come up with ideas on writing an undergraduate capstone paper on Bitcoin.  The Bitcoin idea has been a fascination for some time and I feel it would be a good topic to explore on the network security side.  I'm having some difficulty in coming up with ideas and how to explore the security side of this subject. 

What I have to come up with is an outline containing this:

Subject
Goal (high level summary of project, no more than 2)
Objectives (Specific concrete objectives with measurable deliverables)

This will be contained in 5 sections.
Summary
Review of Other Work
Rationale & Systems Analysis
Goals and Objectives (project deliverables)

I am approaching this way to broadly and would like some suggestions on how to narrow the scope.  Can someone with project management experience give me a hand?

Thanks for any input.

Yes, you need to narrow your scope.  "Network Security" is a broad topic.  I would pick something that is often misunderstood but still interesting, such as:

"The purpose of this paper is to analyze the feasibility of accepting zero-confirm bitcoin payments for purchases at brick-and-mortar stores."

The objectives of this paper are to:

1.  Identify vectors that an attacker could employ to attempt zero-confirm fraud when making a purchase from a brick-and-mortar store;

2.  Outline the precautions that the merchant (or their payment processor) should take to mitigate these threats;

3.  Quantify the feasibility of successfully double-spending a zero-confirm payment, as a function of network (system) parameters (e.g., % of hashpower accepting out-of-band double-spends);

4.  Establish guidance, based on the expected losses due to fraud, for the conditions (e.g., purchase limits) under which a brick-and-mortar retailer should be confident in accepting zero confirm payment.  

5.  Compare anticipated losses due to zero-confirm bitcoin fraud to losses due to fraud using legacy payment systems.


Here is a discussion on what it actually takes to successfully double-spend in a brick and mortar store:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=549141.msg5977547#msg5977547
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=549141.msg5984842#msg5984842

And here is a discussion on the ethics of bitcoin mining as applied to zero-confirm fraud:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=502571.0

Very nice, Peter R.

jc, if you go with that, and you should, maybe quote satoshi: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=423.msg3819#msg3819

Thanks, guys.  This helps a lot!

I hadn't seen that quote before.  Thank you!

Are you going to give us a percentage of the salary of your first job in return for us helping do the work for your degree?

In my day, people didn't have internet strangers do their homework for them. That was called cheating back then.

But alas, this is the dawn of the information age. An age of mutual-trust, collaboration, and cooperation. Either that or Armageddon.

I suppose our individual-competition based educational model (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U) is just as obsolete as our individual-competition based economic model (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOP2V_np2c0).

The hard truth is that your generation is inheriting a very troubled world, because my generation fucked it up really, really badly (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_UTgoPUTLQ&t=7m15s).

Good luck, my young friend. You're going to need it.

Thanks.

Networks are powerful.

Jc01480 wants to write a paper on a bitcoin topic involving security.  He posts a question on the forum looking for what an interesting and important topic might be, and receives some suggestions on how to proceed.  This represents "consultation with people knowledgeable in the field" and is an important part of research.

In fact, this collaborative approach makes it more likely that Jc01480 could produce a paper that becomes widely circulated and cited--this would help the bitcoin community make progress and also improve Jc01480's future career prospects.  Win-win.  

Success still depends on individual competition, but that fact that "who you know" is as important as "what you know" is now more transparent.

It's an illusion at this point. And young people know it. It's only old farts that are clueless to the reality of the internet-connected, collaborative world.

Why do you think so many clueless old-fart teachers fear and despise Wikipedia? Because it reveals the entire educational process as the fucking FARCE it is (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lrdBMR2IEQ)!

Modern schooling "education", like capitalism itself, is a ritual. An obsolete, shitty ritual (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acLW1vFO-2Q). A ritual we need to toss into the dustbin of history.

http://frankslepthere.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/t4_thankswikipedia_thumb.jpg

How is giving him topic ideas the same as cheating?

I assume he's going to do the research himself once he's focused on one particular thing.

Bitcoin is a broad concept. I wouldn't know where to start either.

Nope, he's going to leverage Google and the internet to do his research, like any sensible young person would.

That's probably why a Bachelor's degree means less today than a high school diploma meant 25 years ago.

No wait, that's not why. It's greed (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZU3wfjtIJY).

Isn't that research?

(Assuming we're talking about finding information and not copypasta.  An important part of research is synthesizing the information into coherent ideas that form papers that answer important questions.)

I would look at the structures of these papers:

PWC: http://www.pwc.com/en_SG/sg/tmt/assets/tmtnews201402/digital_disruptor.pdf
Goldman Sachs: http://www.paymentlawadvisor.com/files/2014/01/GoldmanSachs-Bit-Coin.pdf
Bank of America: http://cryptome.org/2013/12/boa-bitcoin.pdf

And since this is capstone: I'm assuming you're business related? I would find a very specific business use-case that you can dive deep on (merchant payment t(x)) and show how btc can help solve that problem?

ACH transactions were $4.5 Trillion dollars
Global remittance is a ~$600B USD business yearly
Title Insurance is a $100B dollar industry - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Title_insurance#Relative_market_share_among_U.S._title_insurers

This is just the tip o' the iceberg here are more ideas:

http://ledracapital.com/blog/2014/3/11/bitcoin-series-24-the-mega-master-blockchain-list

Why dont you start with the beginning with bitcoin,  Wikepedia.  Im sure if you do the proper research you will find things you can put in your paper and I hope you can scan it and share it with us.

If you don't think the internet is blurring the lines between "research" and "plagiarism", you aren't paying attention.

In the near future, the very concept of "cheating" in academia will cease to exist. Everything will be collaborative and cooperative.

Just as the concept of "piracy" (= culture sharing) will cease to exist.

And the concept of "fiat currency" (= local nation-state scrip) will cease to exist.

Lol education is now obsolete just "buy n hold" go travelling come back in 5 and you'll be set.

Lol!  Thanks for all the replies and links.  I do actually buy the hard copies of all the textbooks, if that means anything.  I'm an avid reader and can't seem to get attached to e-books as well as something I can dog-ear.

Laugh all you want, but I laugh harder.

Because I am a twenty-something college dropout who will never work again.

Interesting also wrote a general undergraduate paper on the topic it is an interesting one just PM me for any questions you may encounter

I am also going to send you a PM!