Bitcoin Origins: Revolutionising Finance and Value Transfer

Seventeen years ago, an anonymous individual or group of persons known as Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin to the world through a white paper titled: “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”.^[1] This paper laid the groundwork for a technology that would fundamentally change our understanding of modern finance and disintermediated transfer of value.

Background

Bitcoin originated in 2008 and was developed as a direct response to the systemic weaknesses inherent in the third-party trust-based model of traditional financial systems. The global financial crisis highlighted the vulnerabilities of centralised financial institutions, thus emphasising the need for an alternative system that operated independently of trust in third-party intermediaries. Nakamoto envisioned a system for “electronic payments” that would enable online transactions to occur directly between private parties (peer-to-peer or p2p) without the intermediation of financial institutions (i.e. without the need for banks and brokers among others).

The core innovation of the Bitcoin blockchain lies in its solution to the double-spending problem, a challenge that had long hindered the creation of robust peer-to-peer digital exchanges. This problem refers to the risk that a digital currency could be spent more than once. Bitcoin's ingenious solution to this problem was its use of blockchain technology as a decentralised ledger system to timestamp and memorialise transactions.

The Problem Bitcoin aimed to Solve

Traditional electronic commerce relied on financial institutions as trusted intermediaries for processing payments. Nakamoto's solution was an electronic payment system based on cryptographic-keys and proof-of-work (PoW) protocols instead of trust, thereby allowing direct transactions between parties without a traditional intermediary. Bitcoin transactions are cryptographically verified, and once approved and recorded, they are generally considered irreversible. This algorithmic system provides a level of protection for both senders and receivers or sellers and buyers against fraud.

The Blockchain: Bitcoin’s Technological Backbone

The cypherpunk movement, which comprised activists and technologists from the late 1980s and 1990s, played a significant role in shaping the development of what became the Bitcoin and other distributed ledger technologies (DLTs). They advocated for the use of cryptography^[2] to secure privacy and personal freedoms in the digital age believing that encryption could protect individuals from government and corporate surveillance.

Central to Bitcoin's operation is blockchain technology, which is described in its white paper as a distributed timestamp server. For context, blockchains are the best-known type of DLT, but not all DLTs are blockchains.^[3] While the term “blockchain” is now widely used, it was not mentioned in the original white paper, however, various iterations of DLTs and blockchains existed before Bitcoin.

In 1982, David Chaum proposed a blockchain-like protocol in his dissertation "Computer Systems Established, Maintained, and Trusted by Mutually Suspicious Groups".^[4] Stuart Haber and W. Scott Stornetta introduced the first cryptographically secured chain of blocks in 1991, aiming to create tamper-proof document timestamps.^[5] In 1992, Haber, Stornetta, and Dave Bayer improved the design by incorporating Merkle trees, thereby enhancing efficiency by allowing multiple document certificates in a single block. In 1997, Adam Back, proposed a proof-of-work system called Hashcash. In 1998 computer scientist Nick Szabo worked on ‘bit gold’, a decentralised digital currency^[6], and in 2000, Stefan Konst published his theory of cryptographic secured chains, plus ideas for implementation.^[7]

However, it was Nakamoto in 2008 who first implemented blockchain as a public ledger for a cryptocurrency. Nakamoto built on the 1990s timestamping method by Haber and Stornetta, which ensured document privacy without requiring the timestamping service to keep records. Nakamoto’s Bitcoin network timestamps transactions by hashing them into a continuous chain of hash-based proof-of-work. Each timestamp block includes the previous timestamp in its hash, forming a chain where each additional timestamp reinforces the ones before it, creating a record that arguably cannot be altered without redoing the entire proof-of-work.

Every transaction that occurs on the Bitcoin network is recorded on its blockchain, which creates a permanent and unalterable history of all Bitcoin movements. This transparency allows anyone to verify the validity of transactions, while the cryptographic nature of the blockchain ensures that once a transaction is recorded, it cannot be altered or tampered with.

Proof-of-Work: Ensuring Network Consensus

Nakamoto's design addressed the Byzantine Generals’^[8] problem through proof-of-work. This protocol ensured system integrity as long as honest nodes controlled the majority of CPU power. The Byzantine Generals’ problem is a concept in distributed computing that illustrates the challenges of reaching consensus in a decentralised system where some participants may be unreliable or malicious.

Specifically, to implement this distributed timestamp server on a peer-to-peer basis, Bitcoin employs a proof-of-work system. The rules of engagement in this mechanism are based on network participants, called “miners”, who make numerous attempts to find a valid hash (the smallest enough hash). The difficulty of this task is automatically adjusted to maintain an average block time of 10 minutes. Notably, this proof-of-work also solves the problem of determining representation in majority decision-making. If a majority of CPU power is controlled by honest nodes, the honest chain will grow the fastest and outpace any competing chains.

How the Bitcoin Network Operates

Nakamoto outlined the steps for running the network, which remain fundamental to Bitcoin's operation today:

1. New transactions are broadcast to all nodes.
2. Each node collects new transactions into a block.
3. Each node works on finding a solution for a hash difficulty for its block.
4. When a node finds a proof-of-work, it broadcasts the block to all nodes.
5. Nodes accept the block only if all transactions in it are valid and not already spent.
6. Nodes express their acceptance of the block by working on creating the next block in the chain, using the hash of the accepted block as the previous hash.

This process ensures the integrity and chronological order of the blockchain’s transaction records, thus making it extremely difficult to alter past transactions or to conduct the same transaction twice. Nodes always consider the longest chain to be the correct one and will keep working on extending it. When two versions of the next block are shared at the same time, some nodes receive one version first and start working on it. They also keep the other version just in case it eventually becomes longer. When a new proof-of-work is found, one version becomes the longest, so all nodes switch to this longer version.

The Native Currency: bitcoin (BTC)

While the Bitcoin ledger is the underlying technology, bitcoin (lowercase) is the native cryptocurrency that operates within this system. Defined as an electronic coin, bitcoin is described in the white paper as a series of digital signatures. Each owner transfers the coin by digitally signing a hash of the previous transaction and the recipient's public key, thereby linking these to the coin's transaction history.

New bitcoins are created through a process called mining, which is intrinsically tied to the creation of new blocks in the blockchain, as a reward. The first transaction in a block is a special transaction that creates brand new bitcoins and assigns them to the person (or group) called miners who successfully added the new block to the blockchain. This special transaction serves two important purposes in the Bitcoin system.

First, by rewarding those who help maintain the Bitcoin network with new coins, it motivates people to contribute their computer power to keep the system running smoothly. Second, it provides a way to initially distribute coins into circulation since Bitcoin does not have a central bank or authority to issue money. This incentive, also known as the block reward, encourages nodes to stay honest and to contribute “energy” and computing power to the network, as they should find it more profitable to play by the rules than to undermine the system. Additionally, transaction fees provide an incentive for nodes to include transactions in their blocks.

Because of its innate scarcity (there are only 21,000,000 bitcoins that can ever be mined), Nakamoto compares bitcoin creation to gold mining, where new coins are gradually introduced, similar to how gold miners use resources to add gold to circulation. In the Bitcoin blockchain, this involves using CPU time and electricity. Miners are rewarded with new coins and can also earn transaction fees. These fees occur when the output value of a transaction is less than its input value, and the difference is added to the miner's reward.

Bitcoin transactions transfer and memorialize the ownership of digital fungible tokens-bitcoins . Although these coins can be handled individually, transactions usually involve multiple inputs and outputs. This setup allows users to split and combine values (e.g. x#  units of satoshis, -sats- which represent 0.00000001 bitcoin -BTC-) making it easy to transfer different amounts efficiently.

Bitcoin's system is designed to transition from creating new coins to relying solely on transaction fees once a predetermined number of coins have entered circulation. This transition aims to make the system inflation-free, ensuring that the network continues to operate through transaction fees alone, without the need for further coin creation.

Privacy in a Transparent System

While the traditional banking model achieves privacy by limiting access to customers’ information, Bitcoin takes a different approach. All transactions are publicly displayed, and privacy is maintained by keeping pseudonymous keys. The public users can see that someone sent an amount to someone else, but have no information linking the transaction to anyone’s ID. This creates a level of transparency similar to stock exchanges, where trade sizes and times are public, but the details of parties involved remain unknown.

Beyond the White paper: Bitcoin's Evolution

Understanding the distinction between the Bitcoin ledger and the bitcoin, as native currency, is fundamental for grasping the full scope of Nakamoto's innovation. The blockchain ledger forms the technological basis for a decentralised, distributed, and trustless record-keeping and verification system by replacing interpersonal trust with computational algorithms. Bitcoin (lowercase), as the native medium of exchange, offers the economic incentives that encourage participation in and maintenance of this system. Together, they represent an innovative approach to digital currency and value transfer, challenging conventional concepts of money and financial systems by facilitating secure and transparent transactions without reliance on central authorities or commercial banks.

While Nakamoto's white paper initially defined Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, the technology has since evolved significantly beyond this original purpose. Bitcoin has become a global financial phenomenon, with different versions existing, the most well-known being BTC, which is currently trading at around $USD 102,276.20 at the time of writing (17 Jan 2025).

Bitcoin’s decentralised and open-source nature has allowed it to be used in diverse ways, such as a store of value, a medium of exchange and foundation for complex financial and artistic solutions. This evolution highlights Bitcoin's ability to adapt to the varied needs of users, positioning it as a versatile and dynamic part of the digital economy. Arguably, while Bitcoin’s utility has evolved, it still retains its original capability as a peer-to-peer payment system. This adaptability is largely due to its protocol design and community-driven development and adoption, rather than any fundamental change to its core purpose.

From Electronic Cash to Digital Gold

Contrary to its original conception as a system for everyday transactions, as mentioned earlier, bitcoin has become primarily viewed as a store of value, often referred to as “digital gold.”  Its scarcity -by design-, has led to its perception as a hedge against inflation and traditional “fiat”-currency devaluation. The predictable and diminishing supply schedule contrasts sharply with the inflationary nature of most fiat currencies, potentially positioning bitcoin as a deflationary asset. The 21 million limit is viewed as sacrosanct by the Bitcoin community and is listed among “prohibited changes” in Bitcoin's protocol rules. However, some, including BlackRock in a recent video, have suggested there's "no guarantee" the limit won't change in the future.^[9] Nevertheless, changing the cap would require a hard fork needing near-unanimous support from all full nodes, which is considered practically impossible.

Moreover, as the bitcoins’ block reward halves approximately every four years, the rate of new bitcoin creation slows, mimicking the increasing difficulty of extracting gold from the earth. When Bitcoin first started, 50 Bitcoins per block were given as a reward to miners. After every 210,000 blocks are mined (approximately every 4 years), the block reward halves and will keep on halving until the block reward per block becomes 0 (approximately by year 2140). As of now, the block reward is 3.125 coins per block and will decrease to 1.5625 coins per block post halving.^[10] This scarcity, combined with bitcoin's durability (as digital information), portability (as it can be sent anywhere in the world instantly), and divisibility (down to eight decimal places), has led many to view it as a superior form of value storage compared to traditional precious metals.

Institutional Adoption and Integration with Traditional Finance

Bitcoin has gained significant traction among institutional investors, a development that Nakamoto likely could not have anticipated. This is especially notable given the overwhelmingly sceptical reception of his white paper on the cryptographer forum in November 2008. Recently, due to legislative changes and political endorsements, major corporations and investment funds have begun holding bitcoin as part of their treasury reserves. This institutional adoption has brought a new level of legitimacy to bitcoin and has contributed to its price appreciation.

The creation of bitcoin futures, ETFs, and other financial products represents a level of integration with traditional finance that goes well beyond Nakamoto's original concept of peer-to-peer electronic cash. These financial instruments allow non-technologically savvy investors and the general public to gain exposure to bitcoin without directly owning the asset or being part of the network, further bridging the gap between the cryptocurrency and traditional financial markets.

The development of sophisticated custody solutions, exchange platforms, and regulatory frameworks has made it easier for institutional investors to enter the bitcoin market. This has led to increased liquidity and larger players with longer term investment horizons entering the market.

Technological Advancements and Challenges

The original Bitcoin protocol, as described by Nakamoto, had limitations in terms of transaction throughput. As Bitcoin’s network has gained popularity, these scalability issues are more pronounced, leading to higher transaction fees and longer confirmation times during periods of high network activity.

To address these scalability issues, Layer 2 off-chain solutions like the Lightning Network^[11] and Stacks^[12] have been developed. The Lightning Network, for instance, aims to enable faster and cheaper transactions by creating payment channels between users, allowing for multiple transactions to occur off-chain before being settled on the main Bitcoin blockchain. This approach has the potential to significantly increase Bitcoin's transaction capacity while still leveraging the security of the main blockchain.

Also to note that the proof-of-work system, while fundamental for network security, has led to debates about Bitcoin's negative environmental impact and sustainability. The energy consumption associated with Bitcoin mining has become a significant point of discussion and discord, an aspect not foreseen in the original white paper. Critics argue that the energy usage is unsustainable, while proponents contend that bitcoins mining incentivizes the development of renewable energy sources and can utilise excess energy that would otherwise be wasted.

Fork It! 

In the context of cryptocurrency, a “fork” refers to a change or upgrade in the protocol of a blockchain network. This change can lead to a split in the network, creating two separate paths and ledgers. Forks address technical issues, introduce new features, or resolve community disagreements. There are two types: soft forks, which are minor and backward-compatible, not usually resulting in a network split and; hard forks, which are significant and not backward-compatible, potentially creating new cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin SV.

Bitcoin forks have significantly influenced the cryptocurrency landscape, including potential impacts on energy efficiency. Notable examples include:

• Segregated Witness (SegWit): A 2017 soft fork that increased block capacity without changing block size, allowing more transactions per block. By improving transaction efficiency, SegWit can reduce the energy cost per transaction, contributing to overall network energy efficiency.
• Bitcoin Cash (BCH) 2017: A hard fork that increased block size to process more transactions per block, potentially lowering energy costs per transaction. However, the impact on energy efficiency depends on transaction volume and mining activity.
• Bitcoin Gold (BTG) 2017: This fork altered the consensus algorithm to support GPU mining instead of ASICs, which could diversify mining participation and affect energy consumption patterns. The impact on energy efficiency depends on the comparative energy use of GPUs versus ASICs.
• Bitcoin SV (BSV) 2018: By significantly increasing the block size, Bitcoin SV aimed to handle more on-chain transactions. Its impact on energy efficiency depends on the network's ability to fill larger blocks and the resulting mining activity.

Beyond these notable forks, numerous other forks have occurred, each with distinct goals such as improving scalability, enhancing privacy and security features, and creating new cryptocurrencies with different rules or features. These forks have important implications for the cryptocurrency ecosystem. They introduce new investment opportunities, expand the broader ecosystem, potentially increase decentralisation and community participation, and address technical challenges to improve network efficiency.

Bitcoin Upgrades:

In November 2021, the Taproot upgrade^[13] introduced several significant improvements to the Bitcoin network. One of the key enhancements was in the area of privacy and efficiency. Taproot implemented Schnorr signatures, which allow multiple signatures to be aggregated into a single one. This aggregation technique enhances privacy by making it more difficult to identify individual participants in a transaction. Additionally, the reduction in transaction blocks’ sizes leads to faster processing times and lower transaction fees.

Taproot also brought about improvements in scalability for the Bitcoin network. By enabling more transactions to be processed per block, it effectively increased the network's throughput. This results in better space efficiency on the blockchain, allowing the network to handle a greater volume of transactions without compromising performance.

Another significant aspect of the Taproot upgrade is its role in enhancing smart contract-like capabilities on Bitcoin. By paving the way for more complex uses of fungible tokens, Taproot has opened the door for decentralised finance (DeFi) applications to potentially emerge on the Bitcoin network. This development could significantly broaden Bitcoin's use cases beyond its traditional role as a value transfer system.

In January 2023, the Ordinals,^[14] update introduced NFT-like^[15] functionality to Bitcoin, further expanding its use cases. This update allows data, such as images or text, to be directly encoded to individual satoshis, enabling the creation of unique digital collectibles on the Bitcoin network. As a result, Ordinals have provided new tools for developers to build decentralised applications (dApps) on Bitcoin, attracting a more diverse user base to the ecosystem.

However, the updates have sparked debates within the community, particularly concerning the Ordinals update. Some community members express concerns that it could lead to increased transaction fees and network congestion. Despite these concerns, both the Taproot and Ordinals updates represent significant steps in Bitcoin's evolution, enhancing its utility and potentially attracting new users and developers to the ecosystem.

Regulatory Landscape

The growth of bitcoin has prompted governments and financial institutions worldwide to grapple with its classification and regulation, adding layers of complexity to the freedom of its use and adoption. This regulatory uncertainty was not addressed in Nakamoto's original white paper but has become a crucial factor in Bitcoin's integration into the global financial system.

Different countries have taken varied approaches to bitcoin (and other cryptocurrencies’) regulation. A few have broadly embraced it, recognising bitcoin as legal tender or creating favourable regulatory environments for cryptocurrency businesses. Others have taken a more cautious approach, thus implementing strict regulations or even banning cryptocurrencies altogether. This patchwork of global regulations creates challenges for bitcoin's use as a truly global, borderless currency.

The regulatory landscape continues to evolve, with ongoing debates about how to classify bitcoin (as a currency, commodity, or security), how to tax bitcoin transactions and intrinsic gains, and how to prevent (and track) its use in illicit activities while preserving the privacy and freedom of legitimate users. Financial regulators are particularly concerned about the potential use of blockchain technology for money laundering and terrorist financing, thus leading to increased scrutiny and reporting requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges and other service providers.

In some jurisdictions, regulators have implemented strict Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements for cryptocurrency businesses, similar to those applied to traditional financial institutions. These regulations aim to bring transparency to bitcoin transactions and prevent illicit activities, but they also raise concerns about user privacy and the potential centralisation of a system designed to be decentralised.

The taxation of Bitcoin transactions and gains is another area of regulatory focus. Many countries have issued guidance on how bitcoins should be taxed, but the approaches vary widely. This lack of global consistency in tax treatment creates challenges for businesses and individuals operating across borders.

The emergence of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) has added another dimension to the regulatory landscape. As governments explore the possibility of issuing their own centralised digital currencies, questions arise about how these CBDCs will coexist with decentralised cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Some see CBDCs as potential competitors to bitcoin, while others view them as complementary systems that could drive further adoption of digital currencies in general. Arguably, they might serve different purposes, with CBDCs focusing on everyday transactions and cryptocurrencies like bitcoin maintaining their role as investment or store-of-value assets. However, CBDCs have raised various concerns such as breach of privacy due reduced anonymity in transactions, potentially allowing governments to monitor citizens' financial activities, destabilisation of current banking systems, and cybersecurity risks among others.^[16] They also have the potential to revolutionise and thus complicate monetary policy interventions and be costly to implement, thus challenging their integration with existing systems. 

Conclusion

Bitcoin has fundamentally changed our understanding of money and value transfer by leveraging blockchain technology to create a decentralized, distributed, transparent, and secure digital currency system. It challenges traditional financial systems and inspires innovation in digital crypto assets. Despite challenges such as scalability, regulatory uncertainty, and environmental concerns, Bitcoin continues to push the boundaries of financial technology. It promises a future where transferring financial value is as seamless and borderless as transferring information, potentially leading to a more inclusive and efficient economic system.

Authors:

1. Brian Sanya Mondoh, Barrister and Attorney at Law, Trinidad and Tobago, Founder of Blockchain Lex Group and CryptoMondays Caribbean and Africa
2. Sara Adami-Johnson, VP, High Networth Planning, RBC Family Office, Canada

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or financial advice. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice or judgment. Please consult with a qualified legal or financial advisor before making any decisions based on the information provided in this article. The authors and publishers are not responsible for any actions taken as a result of reading this article.

References

1. S Nakamoto, 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' (2008) https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
2. Gietzmann M and Grossetti F, 'The Impact of Blockchain on Supply Chain Management' (2021) 124(5) Journal of Business Research 345 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278425421000648
3. PA Karger, SA Smalley and RR Schell, 'Computer Systems Established, Maintained, and Trusted by Mutually Suspicious Groups' (Nakamoto Institute) https://nakamotoinstitute.org/library/computer-systems-by-mutually-suspicious-groups/
4. S Haber and WS Stornetta, 'How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document' (1991) 3(2) Journal of Cryptology 99
5. N Szabo, 'Bit Gold' (Nakamoto Institute) https://nakamotoinstitute.org/library/bit-gold/
6. ICAEW, 'History of Blockchain' (ICAEW) https://www.icaew.com/technical/technology/blockchain-and-cryptoassets/blockchain-articles/what-is-blockchain/history
7. L Lamport, R Shostak and M Pease, 'The Byzantine Generals Problem' (1982) 4(3) ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems 382 https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/byz.pdf
8. M Saylor, 'Post on X' (X, 17 December 2024) https://x.com/saylor/status/1869132349465829799
9. ‘What is Bitcoin's Taproot Upgrade' (The Block, 1 January 2023) https://www.theblock.co/learn/271535/what-is-bitcoins-taproot-upgrade
10. 'Ordinals and Bitcoin NFTs' (Chainlink, 15 March 2023) https://chain.link/education-hub/ordinals-bitcoin-nfts
11. Ethereum NFTs' (Ethereum, 1 January 2023) https://ethereum.org/en/nft/
12. 'The Advantages and Drawbacks of Central Bank Digital Currencies' (Forbes, 7 February 2023) https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbooksauthors/2023/02/07/the-advantages-and-drawbacks-of-central-bank-digital-currencies/

Footnotes

^[1] S Nakamoto, 'Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System' (2008) https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

^[2] Cryptography is the practice of developing and using coded algorithms to protect and obscure transmitted information so that it may only be read by those with the permission and ability to decrypt it.'

Cryptography' (IBM) https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/cryptography

^[3] Gietzmann M and Grossetti F, 'The Impact of Blockchain on Supply Chain Management' (2021) 124(5) Journal of Business Research 345 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278425421000648

^[4] PA Karger, SA Smalley and RR Schell, 'Computer Systems Established, Maintained, and Trusted by Mutually Suspicious Groups' (Nakamoto Institute) https://nakamotoinstitute.org/library/computer-systems-by-mutually-suspicious-groups/

^[5] S Haber and WS Stornetta, 'How to Time-Stamp a Digital Document' (1991) 3(2) Journal of Cryptology 99

^[6] N Szabo, 'Bit Gold' (Nakamoto Institute) https://nakamotoinstitute.org/library/bit-gold/

^[7] ICAEW, 'History of Blockchain' (ICAEW) https://www.icaew.com/technical/technology/blockchain-and-cryptoassets/blockchain-articles/what-is-blockchain/history

^[8] L Lamport, R Shostak and M Pease, 'The Byzantine Generals Problem' (1982) 4(3) ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems 382 https://lamport.azurewebsites.net/pubs/byz.pdf

^[9]  M Saylor, 'Post on X' (X, 17 December 2024) https://x.com/saylor/status/1869132349465829799

^[10] Bitcoin Block Reward Halving Countdown, https://www.bitcoinblockhalf.com/

Also see; What You Need to Know About the Bitcoin Halving (April 2024) https://www.chainalysis.com/blog/bitcoin-halving-2024/

^[11] Lightning Network, https://lightning.network/

^[12] Stacks, https://www.stacks.co/

^[13]  ‘What is Bitcoin's Taproot Upgrade' (The Block, 1 January 2023) https://www.theblock.co/learn/271535/what-is-bitcoins-taproot-upgrade

^[14]  'Ordinals and Bitcoin NFTs' (Chainlink, 15 March 2023) 

https://chain.link/education-hub/ordinals-bitcoin-nfts

^[15]  'Ethereum NFTs' (Ethereum, 1 January 2023) https://ethereum.org/en/nft/

NFTs are tokens that are individually unique. Each NFT has different properties (non-fungible) and is provably scarce. This is different from tokens such as ETH or other Ethereum based tokens like USDC where every token is identical and has the same properties ('fungible'). 

^[16]  'The Advantages and Drawbacks of Central Bank Digital Currencies' (Forbes, 7 February 2023) https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbooksauthors/2023/02/07/the-advantages-and-drawbacks-of-central-bank-digital-currencies/

Also see: Central bank digital currency (CBDC) information security and operational risks to central bankshttps://www.bis.org/publ/othp81.htm