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Double-spending prevention for Bitcoin zero-confirmation transactions

Pérez-Solà, C; Delgado Segura, S; Navarro-Arribas, G; Herrera-Joancomartí, J; (2019) Double-spending prevention for Bitcoin zero-confirmation transactions. International Journal of Information Security , 18 (4) pp. 451-463. 10.1007/s10207-018-0422-4. Green open access

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Abstract

Zero-confirmation transactions, i.e. transactions that have been broadcast but are still pending to be included in the blockchain, have gained attention in order to enable fast payments in Bitcoin, shortening the time for performing payments. Fast payments are desirable in certain scenarios, for instance, when buying in vending machines, fast food restaurants, or withdrawing from an ATM. Despite being quickly propagated through the network, zero-confirmation transactions are not protected against double-spending attacks, since the double-spending protection Bitcoin offers relies on the blockchain and, by definition, such transactions are not yet included in it. In this paper, we propose a double-spending prevention mechanism for Bitcoin zero-confirmation transactions. Our proposal is based on exploiting the flexibility of the Bitcoin scripting language together with a well-known vulnerability of the ECDSA signature scheme to discourage attackers from performing such an attack.

Type: Article
Title: Double-spending prevention for Bitcoin zero-confirmation transactions
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1007/s10207-018-0422-4
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10207-018-0422-4
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: Double-spending, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, ECDSA
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10063353
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