Money for Nothing and Bits for Free: The Geographies of Bitcoin
Adrian Pel · TSpace (University of Toronto) · 2015
The digital currency bitcoin is distinguished by a decentralized network architecture and the absence of a physical form. These characteristics have prompted assertions that bitcoin lacks any clear or meaningful geographies, as it exists within the nebulous realm of cyberspace. This thesis fundamentally challenges this notion and provides the first thorough geographical analysis of bitcoin. Using empirical evidence, this research examines bitcoin mining, user procurement of bitcoin, and bitcoin-related startup firms. Each of these aspects is found to have clear links to geographic space as well as marked patterns of physical concentration. This thesis argues that the accumulation of market power by a small group of firms, the concentration of market activity in key places such as financial centres, and the clear territorial aspects of bitcoin make the currency far more possible to govern and regulate than commentators from the fields of law, economics and computer science have previously suggested.