Incentive Mechanisms for Securing the Bitcoin Blockchain

This white paper studies the two major incentive mechanisms which provide for the security and immutability of the Bitcoin blockchain: block rewards and transaction fees. We examine the role such incentives play in providing the resilience of the Bitcoin blockchain to blockchain reorganization and denial of service attacks,and the sources of blockchain security in the context of emerging off-chain payment methods. Machine-to-machine / Internet of Things payments are also examined due to the enabling impact blockchain technology could have in organizing the decentralized economy. Lastly,we present a methodology for estimating the aggregate transaction fees over the Bitcoin network in the medium term based on existing and emerging Bitcoin applications.