Probing Bitcoins

(Phys.org) —Bitcoin transactions may be anonymous, but they're also completely transparent. This makes stealing easier, but cashing in on the theft without getting caught a lot more difficult. That's one of the findings from "A Fistful of Bitcoins," a computer science paper that takes an in-depth look at how the virtual currency has been used since its introduction back in early 2009. Led by computer science Ph.D. student Sarah Meiklejohn, researchers documented more than 16 million transactions and more than 12 million public keys-the addresses Bitcoin users use for their transactions-as of April 13, 2013.

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