Distributed Double Spending Prevention

Abstract. We study the problem of preventing double spending in electronic payment schemes in a distributed fashion. This problem occurs, for instance, when the spending of electronic coins needs to be controlled by a large collection of nodes (e.g., in a peer-to-peer (P2P) system) instead of one central bank. Contrary to the commonly held belief that this is fundamentally impossible, we propose several solutions that do achieve a reasonable level of double spending prevention, and analyse their efficiency under varying assumptions.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: CORR
• Authors: Jaap-Henk Hoepman
• Keywords: Commonly Held Belief, CORR 2008, Double Spending, Education, Electronic Payment Schemes