A non-traditional type of financial asset,cryptocurrencies based on public blockchains are still little understood in their real-world behavior.Exogenous events such as cyber-attacks and their media coverage can stron...A non-traditional type of financial asset,cryptocurrencies based on public blockchains are still little understood in their real-world behavior.Exogenous events such as cyber-attacks and their media coverage can strongly affect their supply and demand,adoption and usage,efficiency,and infrastructural development,thus influencing their price stability and market valuation.Given the great technical complexity of blockchains,we believe that a pure economic analysis of risks associated with cryptocurrencies is simply not sufficient to convey the relationships between attacks and the disruptive effects that these can bring on the operation of cryptocurrencies.On these grounds,we survey the most common types of attacks for Proof-of-Work(PoW)cryptocurrencies and evaluate their impact on the returns of a number of real-world cryptocurrencies for which market data are available.Due to data availability,our event study analysis focuses on instances of 51% attacks,hard forks,and wallet attacks.The main goal of our analysis is to understand the relationship between technical events(cyber-attacks and coordinated user/miner behavior)and the economic impacts surrounding them.We aim to develop a deeper understanding of these systems that are objects of great research interest in separate disciplines,supporting policymakers in their regulatory decisions concerning crypto-assets and associated cyber-related financial risks.展开更多
基金funded by H2020 ITN Marie Skłokodowska Curie Action grant No.814284“BAnDIT”as part of the EU Horizon 2020 program.
文摘A non-traditional type of financial asset,cryptocurrencies based on public blockchains are still little understood in their real-world behavior.Exogenous events such as cyber-attacks and their media coverage can strongly affect their supply and demand,adoption and usage,efficiency,and infrastructural development,thus influencing their price stability and market valuation.Given the great technical complexity of blockchains,we believe that a pure economic analysis of risks associated with cryptocurrencies is simply not sufficient to convey the relationships between attacks and the disruptive effects that these can bring on the operation of cryptocurrencies.On these grounds,we survey the most common types of attacks for Proof-of-Work(PoW)cryptocurrencies and evaluate their impact on the returns of a number of real-world cryptocurrencies for which market data are available.Due to data availability,our event study analysis focuses on instances of 51% attacks,hard forks,and wallet attacks.The main goal of our analysis is to understand the relationship between technical events(cyber-attacks and coordinated user/miner behavior)and the economic impacts surrounding them.We aim to develop a deeper understanding of these systems that are objects of great research interest in separate disciplines,supporting policymakers in their regulatory decisions concerning crypto-assets and associated cyber-related financial risks.
