Blockchains and distributed ledgers in retrospective and perspective
Alexander Lipton · The Journal of Risk Finance · 2017
Abstract Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce blockchains and distributed ledgers and describe their potential applications to money and banking. Design/Methodology/Approach The analysis compares public and private ledgers and outlines the suitability of various types of ledgers for different purposes. Furthermore, a few historical prototypes of blockchains and distributed ledgers are presented, and results of their hard forking are illustrated. Next, some potential applications of distributed ledgers to trading, clearing and settlement, payments, trade finance, etc. are outlined. Findings Monetary circuits are argued to be natural applications for blockchains. Finally, the role of digital currencies in modern society is articulated and various forms of digital cash, such as central bank issued electronic cash, bank money, Bitcoin and P2P money, are compared and contrasted.