Research Paper: Bitcoin: A Threat and Opportunity for Auditing
Introduction
Nowadays, the Internet has implemented great impacts on people’s life, and it also has changed the business world significantly. In order for companies to cope up with the changing customer demands, they must adopt new technologies not only to support their business functions but also to reduce paper works, reduce costs, and provide better services. Bitcoin is a currency of the Internet, distributed, worldwide, decentralized digital money that be developed as a new payment method. In Australia, the regulator has defined Bitcoin as property instead of currency for accounting purposes (King, 2015 February). Although Bitcoins are not materially existed, it can be exchanged for goods and services at places that accept it, the same way you would give someone a dollar for a cookie. As Bitcoin goes popular, this kind of payment has been more widely accepted. For instance, the King’s College New York is the first university in the United States that accepts Bitcoin for tuition payments. The President states that the reason for them to do that is because they think virtual currency is a new technology that will generate more attention in future business world (Rizzo, 2014 June). This increasing trend has been driven by the low transaction costs, high security, and limited influence of inflation of the Bitcoin payment processing system. However, every coin has its two sides. The development of
