Monopoly without a Monopolist: An Economic Analysis of the Bitcoin Payment System
Review of Economic Studies · 2021 · Gur Huberman、Jacob D. Leshno、Ciamac C. Moallemi
中文摘要
比特币为其用户提供类似于传统支付系统的交易处理服务。本文对比特币创新性去中心化设计所蕴含的新型经济结构进行建模，该设计使得支付系统能够由被称为矿工的互不相关方可靠地运营。我们发现，这种去中心化设计保护用户免受垄断定价。平台内服务提供者之间的竞争与自由进入意味着，没有任何实体能够有利可图地影响用户所支付的费用水平。相反，交易处理市场决定了用户为获得优先处理并避免交易处理延迟而支付的费用。本文 推导了费用与等待时间的闭式公式并研究其性质， 将比特币支付系统下的定价与由利润最大化企业运营的传统支付系统下的定价进行比较， 提出协议设计修改建议以提升平台效率。附录描述并解释了比特币及底层区块链技术的主要属性。
Abstract
Abstract Bitcoin provides its users with transaction-processing services which are similar to those of traditional payment systems. This article models the novel economic structure implied by Bitcoin’s innovative decentralized design, which allows the payment system to be reliably operated by unrelated parties called miners. We find that this decentralized design protects users from monopoly pricing. Competition among service providers within the platform and free entry imply no entity can profitably affect the level of fees paid by users. Instead, a market for transaction-processing determines the fees users pay to gain priority and avoid transaction-processing delays. The article (i) derives closed-form formulas of the fees and waiting times and studies their properties, (ii) compares pricing under the Bitcoin Payment System to that under a traditional payment system operated by a profit-maximizing firm, and (iii) suggests protocol design modifications to enhance the platform’s efficiency. The Appendix describes and explains the main attributes of Bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology.