Research on Bitcoin

[Sedo]

Hi everyone,

this is a thread where we can collect topics to research on and (maybe) discuss their relevance.

I for example am studying Computer Science and am going to write my bachelor thesis in the near future. I am considering making it Bitcoin-related, but am lacking ideas. Maybe there are others.

For example, there was a paper published about anonymity in Bitcoin several days ago: http://anonymity-in-bitcoin.blogspot.com/2011/07/bitcoin-is-not-anonymous.html

Any ideas are welcome.

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[kokjo]

some stuff on blocks.
like the reorg.
or block chaining.

it might not look so hard, but really it is.

[bitrebel]

What type of personality make of the majority of bitcoin users?
What is the average wealth and social status of a bitcoin user?
how many bitcoin miners does it take to plug in a lightbulb?

[kokjo]

What type of personality make of the majority of bitcoin users?
What is the average wealth and social status of a bitcoin user?
how many bitcoin miners does it take to plug in a lightbulb?

yes they are good questions. but they are more sociological, then Computer Science.
and OP is studying Computer Science

[bitrebel]

What type of personality make of the majority of bitcoin users?
What is the average wealth and social status of a bitcoin user?
how many bitcoin miners does it take to plug in a lightbulb?

yes they are good questions. but they are more sociological, then Computer Science.
and OP is studying Computer Science

At what point will Artificial Intelligence induce a home computer to steal it's owners bitcoins and go on a self determined shopping spree for hardware upgrades?

[qikaifu]

How to audit a 3rd party bitcoin bank have the bitcoin they claim to have.
make it 100% sure, without any possible cheating method
make it 100% safe, not allowing the auditor take away the bitcoins.

[Stephen Gornick]

this is a thread where we can collect topics to research on and (maybe) discuss their relevance.

Related:
 - http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Research

[Sedo]

What type of personality make of the majority of bitcoin users?
What is the average wealth and social status of a bitcoin user?
how many bitcoin miners does it take to plug in a lightbulb?

yes they are good questions. but they are more sociological, then Computer Science.
and OP is studying Computer Science

No problem. It is not just about my research. Maybe there are people from other fields than Computer Science willing and able to research.

some stuff on blocks.
like the reorg.
or block chaining.

Yeah that is a pretty interesting part. You mean the "Processing Power"-democracy and its robustness, security and implications? Maybe a researcher could abstract into Blockchain-based systems in general. Or describe scenarios and possible outcomes if there is a conflict between two or more "miner"-groups about the bitcoin protocol. Or research, how much of a democracy it will really be (in case of mass adoption of Bitcoin), meaning, is there not going to be a "elite" of few big miners that have all the power?

Good stuff so far, keep it up!

[Vio]

What about the security aspects of bitcoin and how to make it safe for non-IT people to use for example.

or

you discribe how bitcoin the first distributed electronic currency works
http://bitcoinweekly.com/articles/bitcoin-decentralization-and-the-nash-equilibrium

[phatsphere]

if you want to introduce some new ideas, you can look into merging blocks. currently, just the longest blockchain wins if there is more than one new block. you can investigate into a "merging" block, that collects and resolves all transactions from the >2 previous blocks. I.e. this wouldn't discard too many transactions. I don't know how to handle the newly created bitcoins and also, TX fees of the previous conflicting blocks probably would also be part of this merging block…

[o]

You can sure do all kind of the analysis on the block chains and the network between the bitcoin transfer. . But I have one interesting top on my mind that certainly will be useful for the bitcoin.

The research is to setup a bitcoin monitor node that collect all kinds of information, say for a year. For examples,

• the delay between the transaction and the receiving time by the node
  
• how fast the propagation of transaction within all nodes
• what is the typical number of connectivity
• the location of all other nodes in the world, resolving by the IP
• how many people are sending invalid transaction
• what is the drop rate of transactions
• how many branches of blockchain

All kind of statistics that does not embedded in the block chain would be very useful to the grow of bitcoin. Since the information would disappear with time. This information would be very useful to support the analysis of all attack vectors such as those stated in the https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Weaknesses .

I am sure these type of research will get much attention at this early state of bitcoin, preferably you can find collaborators to set few monitoring nodes at different part of the world.

[Gavin Andresen]

Alternative algorithms for determining the "best" block chain would be a good research topic, I think.

Model or simulate either a 'natural' block-chain splits (X% of the network gets disconnected for time T) or attacks (attacker with 51+% of hashing rate double-spends a transaction by surprising the network with a N-length better block chain).

Then see what the behavior is like under different potential algorithms for determining the best chain-- the one we have now (most difficulty always wins) or some variant (like more recent blocks are given greater weight).

And think really hard about potential attacks, especially mixed-mode attacks (what if the attacker can mount a Sybil attack on one of the big mining pools?  Or can DOS one or more of the big mining pools? etc)

[cunicula]

Alternative algorithms for determining the "best" block chain would be a good research topic, I think.

Model or simulate either a 'natural' block-chain splits (X% of the network gets disconnected for time T) or attacks (attacker with 51+% of hashing rate double-spends a transaction by surprising the network with a N-length better block chain).

Then see what the behavior is like under different potential algorithms for determining the best chain-- the one we have now (most difficulty always wins) or some variant (like more recent blocks are given greater weight).

And think really hard about potential attacks, especially mixed-mode attacks (what if the attacker can mount a Sybil attack on one of the big mining pools?  Or can DOS one or more of the big mining pools? etc)

Algorithms which mix proof-of-stake and proof-of-work. Essentially, something that would allow people holding large volumes of coin to benefit from a difficulty subsidy.

[royalfestus]

I wish the research on cryptocurrency projects will be discussed. Looking on how one achieve the best in the new year on researching a good project. To avoid investing in scams and failing projects, more also not to deprive a good project,crowd-funding.

[Kasabus]

Actually it's my first move before i totally convince how does bitcoin works? And the result were just so amazing,you can further understand it's history which is very innovative made by satoshi Nakamoto,it was a brilliant idea and eventually it creates and awaken us on how to use a modern way of digital currency.As most of us now utilize it,then i must say that they created the greatest innovation and it will continue to gain progress for more years to come and gives a highest value.

[BTCdoaA]

I SUGGEST TO GO FURTHER MORE TO WRITE ABOUT DAPPS ON THE BLOCKCHAIN, There is no specific place for that but the better is to look back to previous project which succeed . the good thing about the digital world is that you may find the open source for every project .

[royalfestus]

I SUGGEST TO GO FURTHER MORE TO WRITE ABOUT DAPPS ON THE BLOCKCHAIN, There is no specific place for that but the better is to look back to previous project which succeed . the good thing about the digital world is that you may find the open source for every project .

Sometimes to get forward we need to understand the past,and a lot had happen in the past 8 years of its existence. some bad outcomes due to ignorance, some successes also, and it is quite expected in a new technology. It has given birth to more technology functioning in different models. In the next 50 years if blockchain technology had taken over the world,I will be glad I partook in it the first decade of existence. More needs to been done, If we know how much we need to know to get better with this technology we would take advantage this present in the technology.

[25forsure#]

Everybody is interested in smart contracts and is becoming very popular now.

[darklus123]

I am now a fun of research on a mobile platform, plus as you have stated that you are a computer science and i know that you also do know how the Internet of all things works. Especially on the physical bitcoin devices but before i go further to that. How about a mobile type of wallet not an online one ofcourse.

[GMPoison]

A bitcoin related thesis would be really cool. Let us know how it goes when it's all done or don't forget to message me at least, I'm studying comp sci. as well.